Table 1. Socio-demographic characteristics and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) of in Black women, Baltimore city Maryland (n = 241).
| Variables | Very Early Sexual Initiation | Early Sexual Initiation | Not Early Sexual Initiation | Total Sample | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11–12 years | 13–14 years | 15 years or older | |||||||
| (n = 28) 12% | (n = 70) 29% | (n = 143) 59% | (n = 241) 100% | ||||||
| n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % | ||
| SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHICS | |||||||||
| Age [mean(std dev.)]* | 28.68 | (1.25) | 26.80 | (0.82) | 25.27 | (0.50) | 26.11 | (6.39) | |
| 18–24 | 8 | 29 | 31 | 44 | 74 | 52 | 113 | 47 | |
| 25–34 | 13 | 46 | 29 | 41 | 57 | 40 | 99 | 41 | |
| 35–44 | 7 | 25 | 10 | 14 | 12 | 8 | 29 | 12 | |
| At least a high school education | 23 | 82 | 60 | 86 | 121 | 85 | 204 | 85 | |
| Formally employed | 13 | 46 | 35 | 50 | 92 | 64 | 140 | 58 | |
| Unstable housing* | 4 | 14 | 9 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 18 | 8 | |
| Number of children | |||||||||
| 0 | 13 | 46 | 36 | 51 | 72 | 50 | 121 | 50 | |
| 1 to 2 | 9 | 32 | 26 | 37 | 54 | 38 | 89 | 37 | |
| 3 or more | 6 | 21 | 8 | 11 | 17 | 12 | 31 | 13 | |
| Individual income | |||||||||
| <$10,000 | 18 | 64 | 43 | 61 | 86 | 60 | 147 | 61 | |
| $10,000–29,999 | 9 | 32 | 23 | 33 | 43 | 30 | 75 | 31 | |
| >$30,000 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 14 | 10 | 19 | 8 | |
| SEXUAL INITIATION CONTEXT | |||||||||
| First sex with non-partner*** | 22 | 81 | 32 | 46 | 57 | 40 | 111 | 46 | |
| Partner ≥ 3 years in age*** | 17 | 74 | 27 | 44 | 27 | 20 | 71 | 32 | |
| First sex pressured/forced*** | 20 | 74 | 30 | 43 | 37 | 26 | 87 | 37 | |
| Partner used alcohol/drugs* | 8 | 35 | 11 | 17 | 18 | 14 | 37 | 17 | |
| Woman used alcohol/drugs | 5 | 19 | 8 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 25 | 11 | |
| ACE CATEGORIES | |||||||||
| Emotional abuse* | 12 | 43 | 14 | 20 | 25 | 17 | 51 | 21 | |
| Physical abuse** | 12 | 60 | 3 | 10 | 11 | 24 | 26 | 27 | |
| Sexual abuse | 12 | 60 | 14 | 45 | 12 | 26 | 38 | 39 | |
| Witness maternal abuse** | 10 | 36 | 9 | 13 | 13 | 9 | 32 | 13 | |
| Household substance misuse | 13 | 46 | 20 | 29 | 30 | 21 | 63 | 26 | |
| Household mental health problems* | 9 | 32 | 14 | 20 | 26 | 18 | 49 | 20 | |
| Parental separation or divorced | 13 | 46 | 28 | 40 | 51 | 36 | 92 | 38 | |
| Incarcerated household member | 9 | 32 | 13 | 19 | 35 | 24 | 57 | 24 | |
| ACE Score**a | 3.21 | (0.49) | 1.64 | (0.22) | 1.42 | (0.14) | 1.69 | 1.95 | |
| 0 | 7 | 25 | 27 | 39 | 59 | 41 | 93 | 39 | |
| 1 | 3 | 11 | 11 | 16 | 34 | 24 | 48 | 20 | |
| 2 | 2 | 7 | 15 | 21 | 17 | 12 | 34 | 14 | |
| 3 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 15 | 10 | 24 | 10 | |
| 4 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 13 | 5 | |
| 5 | 6 | 21 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 14 | 6 | |
| 6 | 4 | 14 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 4 | |
| 7 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
| 8 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | |
Source: The ESSENCE Project 2015–2017; a p-value for statistical difference between very early/early/not early sexual initiation using X2 for comparisons among categorical variables (unless there is a zero cell) & the F-statistic for comparison of means among continuous variables
*p-value≤0.05
**p-value≤0.01
***p-value≤0.001
mean(standard deviation) reported for continuous variables; columns may add to more than 100% due to rounding