Parental separation following divorce or nonmarital dissolution is a well-known predictor of sexual behavior during adolescence. Numerous studies find that children whose parents are no longer together report a younger age at first sexual intercourse than children from intact, two-parent families [8,9]. Although much of this research has been conducted with predominantly non-Hispanic Whites, there are a handful of studies reporting effects specific to minority families, including African Americans. For African American families, parental separation is likewise predictive of earlier first sex, especially among girls [10–12].
