Predictors of Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Newly Homeless Youth: A Longitudinal Study
Received 14 May 2007; accepted 4 September 2007. published online 03 January 2008.
Abstract
Purpose
To longitudinally examine the association between newly homeless youth individual factors (sociodemographic characteristics, depression, substance use), and structural factors, such as living situation (family, institution, nonfamily), with sexual risk behaviors.
Methods
A cohort of newly homeless youth from Los Angeles County (N = 261; aged 12–20 years) was interviewed at baseline, 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months. At each assessment youth were asked about symptoms of depression (using the Brief Symptom Inventory), substance use, living situation, and sexual risk behaviors (number of sexual partners and condom use). Random effects models were used to determine the effects of predictors on the number of sexual partners and on condom use over time, by gender.
Results
At baseline, 77% of youth had been sexually active, increasing to 85% of youth at 24 months of follow-up. For predictors of multiple sexual partners, among male youth, these included living in nonfamily settings and using drugs; among females, living situation was not predictive of having multiple sexual partners but drug use was. For condom use, among females, living in a nonfamily setting and drug use decreased the odds of always using condoms; for males, no factors were found to be predictive of condom use.
Conclusions
Living with nonfamily members and drug use appear to be the most salient in explaining sexual risk among newly homeless youth. Our findings indicate that interventions aimed at reducing sexual risk behaviors, and thereby reducing sexually transmitted diseases and HIV among newly homeless youth, need to help youth in finding housing associated with supervision and social support (family and institutional settings) as well as aim to reduce drug use.
aUniversity of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Department of Family Medicine, Los Angeles, California
bUniversity of Melbourne, Key Centre for Women’s Health in Society, Melbourne, Australia
cUniversity of California, Los Angeles, Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Center for Community Health, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Los Angeles, California
dUniversity of California, Los Angeles, School of Public Health, Department of Biostatistics, Los Angeles, California
eUniversity of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine, Medical Student, Los Angeles, California
Address correspondence to: Rosa Solorio, M.D., M.P.H., David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Department of Family Medicine, 10880 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 1800, Los Angeles, CA 90024-4142.
ABSTRACT