Sexual behaviors among Haitian youth in Greater Boston: Do they differ from other youth of African descent?

People of African descent have distinct cultural, linguistic, and social histories that are often subsumed in their shared racial classification in the reporting of health data. In an effort to understand the sexual knowledge and practices of youth of Haitian descent as they might compare to other youth of African descent, we gathered baseline data as part of a randomized controlled trial of a sexual health curriculum for Haitian youth.  We surveyed 637 youth aged 13-19 in 9 high schools and 2 community-based organizations in the greater Boston area, and compared our findings to data from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) for U.S. “Black/African-American” youth.                                                                                  

sex	female (%)			male (%)
	Haitian	YRBSS	p	Haitian	YRBSS	p
Have you ever had sexual intercourse?	21.3	53.4	<.0001	42.2	68.4	<.0001
Did you have intercourse before age 13yr?	3.8	4.9	.48	25.9	24.0	.50
Have you had intercourse with >4 persons?	2.6	15.8	<.0001	26.2	37.5	.0002
Did you not use a condom during last intercourse (sexually active only)	25.0	44.7	<.0001	24.1	27.0	.53

Our data suggest that youth of Haitian descent may differ in important ways from the cohort of all Black youth.  Such differences must be better understood and taken into account in the design of effective interventions to promote sexual health in culturally distinct subpopulations.  Possible explanations for these differences, including specific aspects of Haitian family dynamics with regard to adolescent development, will be discussed as well as their implications for the delivery of effective inteventions.