title: Multidimensional characterization of sexual minority adolescents' sexual safety strategies.
abstract: Young adults have high rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Sexual minority youths' risk for STIs, including HIV, is as high as or higher than sexual majority peers'. Sexual safety, while often treated as a single behavior such as condom use, can be best conceptualized as the result of multiple factors. We used latent class analysis to identify profiles based on ever-used sexual safety strategies and lifetime number of partners among 425 self-identified LGBTQ youth aged 14-19. Data collection took place anonymously online. We identified four specific subgroup profiles for males and three for females, with each subgroup representing a different level and type of sexual safety. Profiles differed from each other in terms of age and outness for males, and in outness, personal homonegativity, and amount of education received about sexual/romantic relationships for females. Youths' sexual safety profiles have practice implications for sexuality educators, health care professionals, and parents.
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, Box 354900, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98105, USA. Electronic address: tmasters@uw.edu.
authors.forename: N Tatiana
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Masters
authors.forename: Blair
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Beadnell
authors.forename: Diane M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Morrison
authors.forename: Marilyn J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Hoppe
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Wells
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001727:Bisexuality; D005260:Female; D018452:Homosexuality, Female; D018451:Homosexuality, Male; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008913:Minority Groups; D021841:Safe Sex; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D063106:Transgender Persons
keywords: LGBTQ youth; Latent class analysis; STI/HIV prevention; Sexual minority youth