An Analysis of the relation between Risky Sexual Behavior and Substance Use Among Adolescents

Due to its ability to disinhibit and compromise an individual's decision-making capacity, the influence of substance use on sexual behavior has been the focus of research for at least two decades. While substance use and risky sexual behavior are among the top predictors of HIV infection in adults, less is known about the moderators of the relation between these two variables among adolescents. The purpose of this meta-analysis is to examine the strength of the relation between risky sexual behavior and substance use among adolescents and elucidate the gaps in the literature. The researchers will employ a multiple pathways approach to investigate the moderators (i.e., race, gender) and predictors (e.g., setting) of the relation between adolescent substance use and risky sexual behavior. There are five major steps of a meta-analysis: 1) developing inclusionary criteria and variable definition, 2) examining an initial sample of abstracts (approximately 7,000) to determine relevancy using inclusionary criteria, 3) examining the final sample of articles to determine if sufficient data were reported to enable the computation of an effect size (approximately 300 articles), 4) coding mediator and moderator variables for each study, and 5) computing effect sizes and conducting mediator and moderator analyses. Results and suggestions for future directions will be discussed.