What do skipping school, failing exams and engaging in risky sexual behaviour have in common? A lot, say researchers.
After combing through 80,000 diary entries written by 387 teenage girls in the US, researchers at Indiana University examined the day-to-day relationship between teenage girls' reports about school-related events, how they felt and the sexual behaviours they participated in.
"We found that young women's week day reports of skipping school and failing a test were significantly linked to more frequent vaginal sex, less frequent condom use and different sexual emotions on that same day," said lead author Devon J. Hensel.
Emotionally, young women reported significantly higher levels of negative mood, sexual interest and feeling in love and lower levels of positive mood on week days when they skipped school or failed a test.
Romantic relationships become a primary social focus during adolescence, and school provides a venue where young women meet and interact with their partners.
"Many of the skills underlying academic outcomes - such as communication, emotional awareness and behaviour regulation - are also linked to what happens in young women's relationships," Hensel stated.
"Our findings raise the possibility that the emotional and behavioural experiences in young women's romantic and sexual relationships may impact her reaction to academic events, particularly if an event is more salient to her or to her partner," researchers concluded.
The study was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.