| Abstract: | ![]()
Abstract On the basis of the problem-behavior theory for adolescence, we hypothesized that already during childhood sexual behavior is associated with (non-sexual) externalizing behaviors and tested the hypothesis in a community sample. In the context of a postal questionnaire survey of 6-10 year old children, the parents of 349 girls and 326 boys completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). The CBCL Sex Problems scale did not differ between genders, ethnic groups, or age groups. For both girls and boys, the scores on the Sex Problems scale correlated significantly but modestly (maximum r = 0.35) with all other CBCL scales; only in boys did the correlations with externalizing behaviors exceed those with other scales. We conclude that children from a community sample who show sexual behavior as defined by the CBCL tend to be the ones with increased behavioral/emotional problems in general, with only modest specificity in symptomatology. |
