BACKGROUND This longitudinal study examined psychosocial factors associated with risky sexual behavior in early adolescence. METHODS Data were collected through a self-report survey, the Social and Health Assessment (SAHA), which was administered in three waves between 2001 and 2003 to a cohort of incoming sixth grade students in the public school system (149 classes at 17 middle and high sch...

OBJECTIVES To investigate the sexual behavioral characteristics and HIV/AIDS knowledge among men who have sex with men (MSM), one of the HIV high risk groups. METHODS A three month survey among individuals who were able to be contacted was carried out over the entire Republic of Korea, between May and August, 2001. 348 individuals completed a self-administered questionnaire. The data collecte...

BACKGROUND Peru's HIV epidemic is concentrated among men who have sex with men (MSM). The contribution of alcohol use disorders (AUDs) to known high-risk behaviors associated with HIV transmission in this context has not been well characterized. METHODS Between June and October 2011, 5,148 sexually active MSM were recruited using convenience sampling in five cities to participate in a cross-s...

BACKGROUND Research has suggested that sexual minority youth are more likely to experience a number of behavioral and health-related risk factors due to their exposure to negative attitudes and beliefs about sexual minorities. Few studies, however, have examined the prevalence of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among sexual minority youth. With self-cutting and suicidal ideation common in middl...

Background: It is estimated that 15 million births occur every year to adolescents. This represents about 11%of all births each year. The global average rate of births per 1000 females aged 15-19 years is 65. A range of social, cultural, biological and service delivery factors contribute to the high levels of adolescent pregnancy and childbirth. This study was conducted to determine the causes ...

Objective: To assess the sexually transmitted infection (STI) awareness, sexual risk behaviors, and related contextual factors of African-American female college students. Participants: Eighty-nine African-American first year female students attending a majority public four-year college in the southern U.S. participated in the study in Spring, 2006. Methods: Participants completed an anonymous ...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s pooled Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) data show that nationally, 1.3% of high school students identified themselves as gay or lesbian, 2.5% reported having intercourse with same sex only, and 3.3% reported having sex with both sexes.1,2 Sexual minority students are adolescents who identify themselves as gay or lesbian, bisexual, or unsur...

The average reported age of sexual debut for youth in the United States is 14.4 years, with approximately 7% reporting their sexual debut prior to age 13. While the research literature on sexual debut for youth addresses gender and ethnic differences (with males and African-American youth experiencing earlier sexual debut), there is limited data regarding factors associated with sexual debut fo...

The purpose of this study was to empirically examine the prevalence patterns of sexual risk-taking behaviors (i.e., unprotected sex and having multiple sex partners) in relation to levels of gambling problems and heavy episodic drinking (HED) status among U.S. college athletes. Data from a representative national sample of 20,739 U.S. college athletes were derived from the first National Colleg...