The association of sexual interest and sexual behaviors among adolescent women: A daily diary perspective

Theoretical and empirical linkages of adult women's sexual interest and sexual behaviors are relatively well-established, but few data address similar issues in adolescent women. This paper reviews data from published reports of associations of adolescent women's sexual interest and various sexual behaviors. All of the papers reported data collected from a single longitudinal cohort of young women. The primary source of data collection was daily diaries, allowing close temporal pairing of sexual interest with sexual behaviors. Young women's sexual interest on a given day was consistently and independently associated with sexual activity on that day, whether the behavior was first lifetime coitus, coitus, fellatio, cunnilingus, anal intercourse, or coitus during menses. We also found no evidence of influence of hormonal contraceptives on young women's sexual interest. Taken together, these data demonstrate the relevance of sexual interest as a key factor in young women's sexuality and sexual behavior.

Research Highlights
► The association of sexual interest and sexual behaviors in adolescent women is not well understood.
► We used previously published data from a single cohort of adolescent women to explore these associations.
► We showed a consistent association of higher levels of sexual interest with first coitus, coital and non-coital sexual behaviors, and with coitus during menses.
► We did not find an association of sexual interest and hormonal contraceptive use.