title: Characteristics of African American adolescent females who perceive their current boyfriends have concurrent sexual partners.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Perceived partner concurrency, reporting that a current sexual partner has other sexual partners, may pose sexual health risks to adolescents. We examined the contextual characteristics of African American female adolescents who reported their current boyfriend was having concurrent sexual relationships.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were African American adolescent females (N = 511; mean age = 17.6) recruited from sexual health clinics. Before participating in an STD/HIV prevention trial, the participants completed audio computer-assisted self-interviews with measures of perceived partner concurrency and individual- (e.g., depression, substance use), interpersonal- (e.g., social support, interpersonal stress), and community-level factors (i.e., neighborhood quality).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-seven percent of participants reported their belief that their current boyfriend had concurrent sexual partners during their relationship. In a logistic regression analysis, participants endorsing perceived partner concurrency reported less relational power (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = .94, 95% confidence interval [CI] = .89-.98, p < .01), decreased relationship commitment (AOR = .88, 95% CI = .80-.96, p < .01), elevated perceived interpersonal stress (AOR = 1.02, 95% CI = 1.003-1.04, p < .05), and previous STD diagnoses (AOR = 2.07, 95% CI = 1.31-3.28, p < .01; overall model: χ(2) = 67.25; p < .001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results suggest that the efficacy of sexual risk reduction interventions may be improved by emphasizing the increased HIV/STD risks associated with having a boyfriend with concurrent sex partners. In addition, interventions may benefit from incorporating stress management training and addressing key relationship dynamics, particularly among adolescents with a history of STDs.
authors.affiliation: Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA. jennifer.brown@emory.edu
authors.forename: Jennifer L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Jessica M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Sales
authors.forename: Ralph J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Diclemente
authors.forename: Teaniese P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Latham Davis
authors.forename: Eve S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Rose
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D012747:Sexual Partners / Q000523:psychology*; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult