(PS1-B40) Early Adolescent Romantic Activity and Psychosocial Functioning in Sexual Minority Youth

Romantic activity plays a critical role in identity development and psychosocial functioning for youth regardless of sexual orientation. Prior research shows that youth who engage in atypically early romantic activity (prior to age 13) show greater risk for poor psychosocial outcomes. Sexual minority youth are already at greater risk for poorer psychosocial outcomes due to experiences and expectations of stigma; yet no study has examined whether early adolescent romantic activity may uniquely incur risk for sexual minority youth. The current study aimed to compare romantic activity at age 12 and psychosocial outcomes at age 12 and 15 in sexual minority and heterosexual youth.
Participants were a subset of youth (n=392, 46.7% female) from a longitudinal study examining temperament and risk for psychopathology. At age 12 (M=12.63 years, SD=0.44 years), youth completed the Children’s Depression Inventory-2 to assess depressive symptoms and the Pubertal Development Scale to assess pubertal status. At age 12 and 15, youth completed a self-report measure of romantic experiences and clinical interviews to assess stress and psychopathology. At age 15 (M=15.24 years, SD=0.40 years), youth completed the Erotic Response and Orientation Scale to assess sexual orientation and were classified as sexual minority (i.e., same-sex-attracted) or heterosexual (i.e., exclusively other-sex-attracted). Parents additionally completed clinical interviews to assess youth stress at age 12 and psychopathology at age 12 and 15. All analyses controlled for youth sex at birth, race/ethnicity, parental education, and age and pubertal status at the age 12 visit.

Sexual orientation moderated associations between romantic experiences at age 12 and disruptive behavior, peer stress, and family stress at age 12 (prs=.12-.16, ps< .034). For sexual minority youth, romantic experiences were associated with greater disruptive behavior and family stress (prs=.13-.19, ps< .005), whereas for heterosexual youth, the associations were not significant (prs=.02-.03, ps>.05). For heterosexual youth, romantic experiences were associated with less peer stress (pr=-.11, p=.045), whereas for sexual minority youth, the association was not significant (pr=.08, p=.160).

Sexual orientation also significantly moderated associations between romantic experiences at age 12 and depression and disruptive behavior at age 15 (prs=.14-.23, ps< .010). For sexual minority youth, romantic experiences were significantly associated with greater depression and disruptive behavior (prs=.17-.26, ps< .002), whereas for heterosexual youth, the associations were not significant (prs=.01-.06, ps>.05). 

Our findings revealed that early adolescent romantic activity predicted poorer outcomes for sexual minority youth but improved outcomes for heterosexual youth. This suggests that earlier involvement in romantic activity may incur unique and lasting risks for sexual minority youth and bears important clinical implications for sexual minority mental health. Findings may inform the development of inclusive relationship education programs that provide resources and skills to navigate healthy romantic involvement to early adolescent youth regardless of sexual orientation.