Ethnic variations in prevalence of high-risk sexual behaviors among Asian and Pacific Islander adolescents in Hawaii.
OBJECTIVE
We examined ethnic variations in high-risk sexual behaviors among Asian and Pacific Islander (API) adolescents in comparison with White adolescents.


METHODS
We obtained data from the 2003 Hawaii Youth Risk Behavior Survey on 4953 students in grades 9 through 12. We conducted chi(2) and logistic regression analyses on these data to examine the prevalence of high-risk sexual behaviors among Japanese, Filipino, Native Hawaiian, and White adolescents.


RESULTS
We found significant ethnic variation in prevalence of high-risk sexual behaviors among API adolescents. Relative to White adolescents, Native Hawaiian adolescents were most likely to engage in lifetime sexual intercourse, recent sexual intercourse, and sexual initiation before age 13 years; Japanese adolescents were least likely to engage in these behaviors. Filipino adolescents were least likely to use substances before last sexual intercourse and condoms during last sexual intercourse.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest divergent patterns of risk among API ethnic groups, underscoring the heterogeneity of API subgroups and emphasizing the need for health disparities research on disaggregated API ethnic groups. The findings of such research should be used to design ethnically relevant interventions aimed at mitigating the negative health consequences of high-risk sexual behaviors.
Sasaki
Paula Y
PY
University of Hawaii-Manoa, Social Science Research Institute, 2424 Maile Way, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA. psasaki@hawaii.edu
Kameoka
Velma A
VA
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D001213:Asian / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017280:Condoms / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006254:Hawaii; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000208:ethnology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D044468:Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010679:Philippines / Q000208:ethnology; D015995:Prevalence; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data