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AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Miriam L.M. Weinbender for the degree of Master of Science in Public Health presentedon January 11, 1993.Title: Lifestyle Reduction of the Risk of Premature Sexual Activity ina High School Population of American Seventh-day Adventists: Valuegenesis 1989 Redacted for Privacy Abstract approved :_ Annette M. Rossignol BACKGROUND: Goals for reduction of adolescent American health risks include reductionof prevalence of early initiation of sexual activity among teens in the United Statesto <15% for fifteen year olds and <40% for seventeen year olds. Sucha prevalence reduction would concomitantly reduce the risks for both unwanted teen pregnancy and sexually transmitteddisease, including HIV/AIDS. METHODS: A population of Seventh-day Adventist youth surveyed in1989 reported a prevalence of teenage sexual activity <22%, less than half thepercentage of sexual activity observed in general population high school youth. This study evaluates the hypothesisthat Adventist Lifestyle behaviors modify the risks associated in other studies with precocious intercourse. An analysis of odds ratios for premature sexual activity for each of 40 variables forms the basis for this study. In addition to the odds ratios associated with theuse of tobacco, alcohol and illegal drugs, odds ratios for participation in popular entertainment, physical activities, social activities and culture specific behaviors are also studied. RESULTS: While Adventist youth show a percentage of youth participating in early intercourse well below that of adolescents in the general population, these youth show odds ratios for known risk behaviorshigher than those reported in another adolescent population by a recent similar study. Withinthis Adventist population, many generally accepted behaviors of the average American populaceappear to be risk behaviors. This fact suggests the presence of an "interface" of potential riskbehaviors to be found in the undefined boundaries between Seventh-day Adventistculture and the general American culture which bears further study. LIFESTYLE REDUCTION OF THE RISK OF PREMATURE SEXUAL ACTIVITY IN A HIGH SCHOOL POPULATION OF AMERICAN SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS: VALUEGENESIS 1989 by Miriam L.M. Weinbender A THESIS submitted to Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Completed January 11, 1992 Commencement June 1993 APPROVED: Redacted for Privacy Major Professor in charge of major Redacted for Privacy Chairman, Department of Public Health Redacted for Privacy Dean of the College of Health and Human Performance Redacted for Privacy Dean of the Gradu School Thesis presented January 11, 1993 Typed by Miriam L.M. Weinbender ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In the process of preparing this thesis, I have received wonderful help frommany people. I would like to thank each one personally and adequately but words fall short of expressingthe abundance I feel. Several people I want to thank specifically. First, I would like to thank Dr. Annette M. Rossignol, Chair of the Departmentof Public Health and my thesis advisor. Dr. Rossignol opened the doors of this University forme by aiding my admission into graduate standing. She was my instructor in epidemiologyand she believed that the gaps in my liberal arts education could be filled to satisfy the requirementsof this degree program. Finally, she guided the research for and the writing of this document. Iam honored that she will be my co-author in a future publication of this material. Second, I want to thank Dr. R.D. Pietruszka, Director of ComputerServices and Chair of the Department of Science at Tillamook Bay Community College. Dr.Pietruszka and his Computer Lab staff have been my instructors and allowedme the literally hundreds of hours of computer time required to complete the statistical/data analysis background and thiswriting. Dr. Pietruszka was my data analysis advisor on the good days and the bad, has read this documentin various stages, has been my most challenging critic and encouraging friend in thisproject. Third, I want to thank the leaders of the Seventh-day Adventistdenomination in North America, most particularly Dr. C. Thomas Smith, Project Affirmation Director andValuegenesis Committee Chairman, who made this data available to me and encouragedmy thesis throughout. I want also to mention Dr. Jerold Thayer, Statistical Center Director, Andrews University,Berrien Springs, Michigan who prepared the data for me and worried withme several times. Additionally, I want to thank the members of my thesis committee for their kindness andpatience as well as their thoughtful suggestions and advice as this project developed overa period of eighteen months. Dr. Annette M. Rossignol, Ms. Cheryl A. Graham, Dr. James D. Hall,Dr. Jeff McCubbin each met not only to approve this study design and this work but alsoto make suggestions at difficult points in data analysis and writing design. They each readmore than one thesis draft and offered me encouragement at each decisive point. Finally, I want to thank all those who gave me technical support of excellentquality: Margie Seeley for photocopies, Laura Hurliman for typing and proofreading, Kimberly Collinsfor word processing, Georgia Davis for graphics, Jo' Jannsen for special assistance inpreparation of the final computer draft and especially Jack L. Weinbender Sr. Not only didmy husband care for the "house and the dogs and the lands" while I went to school, he becamemy partner in data analysis for hand calculations of exposure odds ratios and the design ofdata-tables for the early analysis. Without his support and this specific help, this thesis wouldnot have been possible. Thank you all. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION. 1 AN INTERPRETATION OF HISTORY 1 THE LITERATURE 4 SUMMARY 9 THE SUBCULTURE 10 CHAPTER II: LIFESTYLE REDUCTION OF THE RISK OF PREMATURE SEXUAL ACTIVITY IN A HIGH SCHOOL POPULATION OF AMERICAN SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS: VALUEGENESIS 1989 13 INTRODUCTION 13 METHODS 16 DATA COLLECTION 16 SUBJECT SELECTION 17 DATA ANALYSIS 19 RESULTS 22 DISCUSSION: 35 BIBLIOGRAPHY 43 APPENDIX 50 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE Page 1.Legal Drug Use 24 2.Illegal And High-Risk Drug Use 26 3. Engage in Popular Entertainment 28 4. Engage in Popular Entertainment 29 5. Engage in Social Activities 31 6.Culture-Specific Factors 33 7. Deviant Behaviors Past 12 Months 34 LIFESTYLE REDUCTION OF THE RISK OF PREMATURE SEXUAL ACTIVITY IN A HIGH SCHOOL POPULATION OF AMERICAN SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS: VALUEGENESIS 1989 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION AN INTERPRETATION OF HISTORY Early in the 19th century, what might be called a cultural revolution began to take place. This revolution may best be characterized as a shift in thought patterns from basically Platonic absolutism, which formed the presuppositions of previous thought, toward a relativism that resolves the conflict of opposites by a synthesis. This revolution expresses itself inevery aspect of Western Culture from the French Revolution in 1798 to the present. Perhaps the clearest example of this change in basic thinking is exemplified by the former acceptance of Judeo- Christian morality and the Roman Catholic definition of sin. Contrast the present absence of terminology such as "sin" or "wrong" and "good" or "bad" in most of present society. Further, Lochean political pluralism demonstrated by the American Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence forecast the potential for the relativism which also defines the American political system. Today, it would appear that what is "good" is dependenton the determination of what is valued highly by a specific group of individuals ina specific place and time rather than by general belief in an external "good." Only recently has this relativism become apparent in problems identifying clear "right or wrong" boundaries for individual human behavior. In the attempts to define "family values" seen in the political campaigns of 1992we see one outcome of this shift of thought. If the loss of clear, identifiable reasons for decisions about what is rightor wrong is one outcome of this cultural shift, it is not the only outcome. It is also notable that Western society has moved from individual production to mass production, from farm to city, from non-technical to technical skills, and from a basically similar set of separated communities spaced comparatively farapart in the United States to a densely populated generally urbanized country. Ours has becomean industrialized and technologically advanced society. Yet one might appropriately suggest thatours is a culture with skills advanced well ahead of the ability to identify values and make ethical choices. In this introduction to the study of adolescent sexual activityas seen in the Valuegenesis survey of American Seventh-day Adventist high school students, it is worth noting that both theSeventh day Adventist Church and the present American relativism grew up in the puritan culture ofthe Victorian Period. While all the visual arts, music and literature tended, along with thinkingand cultural patterns, toward the present pluralism, human sexuality remained wrapped in stringent taboos which contrasted with much of Western culture from the Golden Age of Greece.While today one might make a case for the view that few evidences apart from Americanlanguage remain of these Victorian taboos-- "white meat" rather than "breast of Chicken" is still served at many family dinner tables -- in the general culture, it seems possible to identify evidences of the more