2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo

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Recorded Annual Meeting Presentations (RAMP) are now available for purchase.
Only $90 for presenters, $140 for registered attendees and $200 for non-attendees.

Online Program

326704
Peer relationships and sexual risk: Profiles of risk and resilience among probation youth


Wednesday, November 4, 2015 : 10:30 a.m. - 10:50 a.m.

Wadiya Udell, PhD, School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, University of Washington Bothell, Bothell, WA
Aerika Brittian, PhD, Department of Educational Psychology, School of Education, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
Erin Emerson, MA, Community Outreach Intervention Projects, School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, chicago, IL
Geri Donenberg, PhD, Department of Medicine and School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
Background: Research has consistently demonstrated an association between delinquent peers and high rates of youth risk behaviors, and between pro-social peers and fewer risk behaviors. Research supports these associations among juvenile offenders, despite their association with delinquent peer networks and significantly high risk behaviors. This study examines whether profiles of probation youth differing on peer-related risk and protective factors are more or less likely to engage in sexual risk behavior.

Methods: Participants are 207 youth (76% male and 24% female; 89% African American), ages 13-17 years, on probation and participating in an HIV prevention program. Baseline data assessing peer-related protective factors (e.g., peer prevention norms, peer conventional behavior), peer-related risk factors (e.g., peer problem behavior, sex peer pressure), and marijuana use during sex are examined. Latent profile analysis will be used to identify profiles of youth more and less likely to engage in risky sexual behavior.

Results: Preliminary analyses indicate 50% of participants reported having smoked marijuana during their most recent sexual encounter. More boys (54%) reported using marijuana during sex than girls (37%). Preliminary examinations of group means (those using marijuana during sex vs. those not using marijuana during sex) showed youth differed on several peer-related factors. Further analyses examining latent profiles of youth will be conducted. 

Conclusion: Results of this study will inform future research for probation youth by identifying factors that impact risky sexual behaviors. Research on risk and resilience is essential to inform future programs that seek to change probation youths’ developmental and health trajectories.

Learning Areas:

Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Identify peer-related factors that may place probation youth at risk and protect them from engaging in high risk sexual and drug use behavior.

Keyword(s): Adolescents, Sexual Risk Behavior

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been studying sexual risk prevention among high risk youth for over 10 years. I have the principal of several small grants focusing on identifying factors associated with sexual risk behaviors among youth. My area of focus has been African American youth, and youth in the juvenile justice system.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 5107.0: HIV-Risk in Vulnerable Youth: Role of Peers, Romantic Partners, and Families