Risk and protection for HIV/AIDS in African-American, Hispanic, and White adolescents.
African-Americans and Hispanics are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS in the United States. HIV infection is often acquired during adolescence, a time when risky sexual behaviors are at their peak. This study explored relationships among selected risk factors, protective factors, and risky sexual behaviors among African-American, Hispanic, and White adolescents, from a sample of adolescents from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. African-Americans and Hispanics were more likely to have sexual intercourse without the use of birth control than were Whites. African-Americans were more likely to have sexual behavior with multiple sexual partners than either Hispanics or Whites were, and African-Americans had higher self-esteem than did Hispanics and Whites. In order to develop culturally sensitive, effective interventions to prevent HIV/AIDS in adolescents, racial differences in risk and protective factors must be examined.
Bartlett
Robin
R
School of Nursing, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 27412-6170, USA. robin_bartlett@uncg.edu
Buck
Raymond
R
Shattell
Mona M
MM
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D044383:Black People; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D044465:White People; D001741:Black or African American