Area Specific Self-Esteem and Sexual Behavior among Hispanic Middle School Students.

Abstract This study examined the relationship between self-esteem and the sexual behavior and intended sexual behavior of Hispanic middle school students. Students in grades 6–8 (n=1,077) from a predominately Hispanic school district completed a questionnaire designed to elicit information regarding self-esteem, sexual knowledge, attitudes, intended behavior, and behavior. Results for behavior variables were as follows: (1) “sexual intercourse ever”—those who had never participated in sexual intercourse scored higher on both home and school self-esteem; (2) “sexual intercourse last month”—those who had not participated in sexual intercourse in the last month scored higher on school self-esteem; and (3) “intent to have sexual intercourse”—those who scored higher on home and school self-esteem had lower levels of intent to participate in sexual intercourse, those who scored higher on peer self-esteem had higher levels of intent to intend to participate in sexual intercourse. Our results highlight the import...