Sexual and Drug Behavior Patterns and HIV and STD Racial Disparities: The Need for New Directions
February 5, 2007
Using data derived from wave III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, the authors of the current report sought to examine whether individuals' sexual and drug behavior patterns account for racial disparities in STD and HIV prevalence.
Study participants were ages 18-26; analyses were confined to non-Hispanic blacks and whites. Sixteen unique behavior patterns emerged from theory and cluster analyses. Researchers used bivariate analyses to compare STD and HIV prevalences for each of the 16 behavior patterns, by race. Logistic regression analyses were used to examine within-pattern race effects before and after controlling for covariates.
The report found unadjusted odds of STD and HIV infection were significantly higher among blacks than among whites for 11 of the behavior patterns assessed. Across the risk behavior patterns, covariates had a marginal effect on reducing race odds ratios.
"White young adults in the United States are at elevated STD and HIV risk when they engage in high-risk behaviors. Black young adults, however, are at high risk even when their behaviors are normative," the authors concluded. "Factors other than individual risk behaviors and covariates appear to account for racial disparities, indicating the need for population-level interventions."
American Journal of Public Health
01.07; Vol. 97; No. 1: P. 125-132; Denise Dion Hallfors, Ph.D.; Bonita J. Iritani, M.A.; William C. Miller, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H.; Daniel J. Bauer, Ph.D.
This article was provided by CDC National Prevention Information Network. It is a part of the publication CDC HIV/Hepatitis/STD/TB Prevention News Update.