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Table 3 Bivariate associations of selected sociodemographic characteristics with patterns of risk behavior initial engagementa

From: Initial engagement and persistence of health risk behaviors through adolescence: longitudinal findings from urban South Africa

 

Males

Females

Low risk

(n = 169)

Moderate risk

(n = 159)

High risk

(n = 172)

p-valueb

Low risk

(n = 131)

Moderate risk

(n = 342)

High risk

(n = 98)

p-valueb

Maternal years of schooling

9.58 (2.6)

9.87 (2.6)

9.61 (2.4)

0.53

9.7 (2.5)

9.64 (3.0)

9.8 (2.4)

0.89

Maternal age at birth

26.08 (6.4)

25.43 (6.3)

26.17 (6.7)

0.54

26.13 (6.2)

25.85 (6.4)

26.15 (6.5)

0.87

Marital status

 Single/Separated/Divorced

110 (65%)

105 (66%)

100 (58%)

0.26

83 (63%)

234 (69%)

62 (63%)

0.37

 Partnered

59 (35%)

54 (34%)

72 (42%)

 

48 (37%)

105 (31%)

36 (37%)

 

Asset tertile in early life

 1

58 (41%)

53 (42%)

64 (46%)

0.76

49 (43%)

115 (41%)

25 (32%)

0.06

 2

28 (20%)

30 (24%)

27 (19%)

 

37 (33%)

78 (28%)

19 (24%)

 

 3

55 (39%)

42 (34%)

48 (35%)

 

27 (24%)

90 (32%)

35 (44%)

 

Early life assets imputed

 0

145 (86%)

145 (91%)

146 (85%)

0.18

107 (82%)

290 (85%)

83 (85%)

0.70

 1

24 (14%)

14 (9%)

26 (15%)

 

24 (18%)

52 (15%)

15 (15%)

 

Asset tertile at age 7 y

 1

67 (47%)

55 (42%)

56 (39%)

0.58

50 (44%)

115 (38%)

34 (42%)

0.06

 2

34 (24%)

36 (28%)

46 (32%)

 

33 (29%)

84 (28%)

12 (15%)

 

 3

41 (29%)

39 (30%)

41 (29%)

 

30 (27%)

102 (34%)

34 (42%)

 

Age 7 asset source

 assets from Y7

140 (99%)

129 (99%)

140 (98%)

0.66

108 (96%)

284 (94%)

75 (94%)

0.84

 assets from Y5

2 (1%)

1 (1%)

3 (2%)

 

5 (4%)

17 (6%)

5 (6%)

 

Child stress

 Above median stressful events never

73 (46%)

67 (46%)

66 (42%)

0.43

43 (36%)

140 (43%)

41 (46%)

0.54

 Above median stressful events 1X

50 (31%)

57 (39%)

56 (36%)

 

48 (40%)

120 (37%)

33 (37%)

 

 Above median stressful events 2 or 3X

36 (23%)

23 (16%)

35 (22%)

 

29 (24%)

67 (20%)

15 (17%)

 

Number of stress measures

 Attended 1 study visit

26 (16%)

36 (24%)

23 (15%)

0.19

19 (16%)

60 (18%)

19 (21%)

0.88

 Attended 2 study visits

73 (46%)

57 (39%)

75 (48%)

 

59 (49%)

158 (48%)

43 (48%)

 

 Attended 3 study visits

60 (38%)

54 (37%)

59 (38%)

 

42 (35%)

109 (33%)

27 (30%)

 
  1. a Presented as N (%) or mean ± SD
  2. b Chi-square p-values testing differences across patterns of risk behavior initial engagement
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