Adjudication history and African American adolescents' risk for acquiring sexually transmitted diseases: an exploratory analysis.
BACKGROUND
Little is known about sexually transmitted disease (STD) risk behavior among adjudicated African American adolescents.


OBJECTIVE
The goal of the study was to compare STD-associated risk profiles of African American adolescents reporting a history of adjudication and those not reporting adjudication.


METHODS
A cross-sectional survey of 304 African American adolescent males and females (aged 15-21 years) was conducted. Adolescents were recruited from primary care clinics and through outreach activities.


RESULTS
Twenty-six percent of the adolescents reported adjudication. After adjusting for gender, adjudicated adolescents were about 3.6 and 4.5 times, respectively, more likely than nonadjudicated adolescents to report ever having one of three STDs (gonorrhea, chlamydia, and trichomoniasis) or to report having one of these in the past 90 days. Reporting recent sex with someone known or suspected of having an STD was about nine times more likely among adjudicated adolescents, and they were about 2.6 times more likely than their nonadjudicated counterparts to report using drugs or alcohol during their last sexual experience and 2.2 times more likely to report frequent sex in the past 90 days.


CONCLUSIONS
African American adolescents with a history of adjudication may have greater risk for acquisition of STDs than their peers not reporting adjudication.
Crosby
Richard A
RA
Rollins School of Public Health, Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA. rcrosby@sph.emory.edu
DiClemente
Ralph J
RJ
Wingood
Gina M
GM
Rose
Eve
E
Levine
David
D
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005845:Georgia; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D012940:Social Problems; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population