African-American sexual minority adolescents and sexual health disparities: An exploratory cross-sectional study

Alyssa L Norris; Larry K Brown; Ralph J DiClemente; Robert F Valois; Daniel Romer; Peter A Vanable; Michael P Carey

doi:10.1016/j.jnma.2018.11.001

African-American sexual minority adolescents and sexual health disparities: An exploratory cross-sectional study

J Natl Med Assoc. 2019 Jun;111(3):302-309. doi: 10.1016/j.jnma.2018.11.001. Epub 2018 Dec 2.

Authors

Alyssa L Norris¹, Larry K Brown², Ralph J DiClemente³, Robert F Valois⁴, Daniel Romer⁵, Peter A Vanable⁶, Michael P Carey⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Alpert Medical School, Brown University Providence, RI, 02912, USA; Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, The Miriam Hospital, 164 Summit Avenue, Coro East, Suite 309, Providence, RI, 02903, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Department of Psychiatry, Rhode Island Hospital, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02903, USA.
³ Department of Social & Behavioral Sciences, College of Global Public Health, New York University, New York, NY, 10012, USA.
⁴ Emory Center for AIDS Research, 1518 Clifton Rd, NE, Ste 8050, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA; Arnold School of Public Health, Discovery 534A, 915 Greene Street, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29201, USA.
⁵ Annenberg Public Policy Center, 202 S. 36th ST, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
⁶ Department of Psychology, 430 Huntington Hall, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, 13244, USA.
⁷ Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Alpert Medical School, Brown University Providence, RI, 02912, USA; Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, The Miriam Hospital, 164 Summit Avenue, Coro East, Suite 309, Providence, RI, 02903, USA; Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02903, USA.

Abstract

Purpose: To better understand sexual health disparities among African-American sexual minority adolescents.

Methods: African-American adolescents (N = 1120; mean age = 15.24 years) were recruited from 4 cities (Columbia, SC; Macon, GA; Providence, RI; Syracuse, NY) to a larger trial. The current analyses used data from the 18-month follow-up when adolescents reported on their sexual partnerships, condom use knowledge, self-efficacy and outcome expectancies for condom use, sexual risk behavior, and STI testing history.

Results: Compared with heterosexual adolescents, sexual minority adolescents reported more concerns about potential relationship harms resulting from safer sex negotiation. Sexual minority adolescents were also more likely to engage in riskier sexual behaviors, with females reporting more sexual partners and drug use prior to sex, and males reporting inconsistent condom use and higher rates of HIV.

Conclusions: African-American sexual minority adolescents evidence disparities in sexual risk behavior and STI history that appear to result from interpersonal and relationship concerns. These concerns need to be targeted in sexual health interventions for sexual minority adolescents.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Black or African American / psychology
Black or African American / statistics & numerical data*
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Health Status Disparities*
Humans
Male
Safe Sex / ethnology
Safe Sex / psychology
Safe Sex / statistics & numerical data
Sexual and Gender Minorities / psychology
Sexual and Gender Minorities / statistics & numerical data*
Unsafe Sex / ethnology
Unsafe Sex / psychology
Unsafe Sex / statistics & numerical data*

Grants and funding

U01 MH066809/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/United States