Racial/ethnic differences in patterns of sexual risk behavior and rates of sexually transmitted infections among female young adults

J.C. Pflieger, E.C. Cook, L.M. Niccolai and C.M. Connell

American Journal of Public Health, 2013, vol. 103, issue 5, 903-909

Abstract: Objectives: We examined patterns of sexual behavior and risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in young adulthood for Black, Hispanic, and White females. Methods: We used a nationally representative sample of 7015 female young adults from wave III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Sexual risk items assessed behaviors occurring in the previous 6 years and past year to determine classes of sexual risk and links to STIs in young adulthood. Results: Latent class analysis revealed 3 sexual risk classes for Black and Hispanic youths and 4 sexual risk classes for White youths. The moderate and high risk classes had the highest probabilities of risky sexual partners, inconsistent condom use, and early age of sexual initiation, which significantly increased odds for STIs compared with recent abstainers. Conclusions: We found different classes of sexual behavior by race/ethnicity, with Black and Hispanic young women most at risk for STIs in young adulthood. Preventive efforts should target younger adolescents and focus on sexual partner behavior.

Keywords: adolescent; adolescent behavior; adult; African American; age; article; Bayes theorem; Caucasian; condom; ethnology; female; health survey; Hispanic; human; longitudinal study; psychological aspect; retrospective study; sexual behavior; sexuality; sexually transmitted disease; statistics; utilization review, Adolescent; Adolescent Behavior; African Americans; Age Factors; Bayes Theorem; Condoms; European Continental Ancestry Group; Female; Health Surveys; Hispanic Americans; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Retrospective Studies; Sexual Behavior; Sexual Partners; Sexually Transmitted Diseases; Young Adult (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.2012.301005

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2012.301005_1

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2012.301005

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia

More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().