title: HIV information and behavioral skills moderate the effects of relationship type and substance use on HIV risk behaviors among African American youth.
abstract: The HIV/AIDS epidemic is disproportionately impacting young African Americans. Efforts to understand and address risk factors for unprotected sex in this population are critical in improving prevention efforts. Situational risk factors, such as relationship type and substance use before sex, are in need of further study. This study explored how established cognitive predictors of risky sexual behavior moderated the association between situational factors and unprotected sex among low-income, African American adolescents. The largest main effect on the number of unprotected sex acts was classifying the relationship as serious (event rate ratio=10.18); other significant main effects were alcohol use before sex, participant age, behavioral skills, and level of motivation. HIV information moderated the effect of partner age difference, motivation moderated the effects of partner age difference and drug use before sex, and behavioral skills moderated the effects of alcohol and drug use before sex. This novel, partnership-level approach provides insight into the complex interactions of situational and cognitive factors in sexual risk taking.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. brian@northwestern.edu
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mustanski
authors.forename: Gayle R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Byck
authors.forename: Michael E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Newcomb
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Henry
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bolland
authors.forename: Danielle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dick
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000367:Age Factors; D017280:Condoms / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012747:Sexual Partners; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D047568:Unsafe Sex / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology