Objective: This study examines the association between religiosity and adolescent sexual behavior. Methods: Sexually active African American adolescenet females (N=522) completed a self-administered survey and in-dapth private interview. The survey assessed religious affiliation and religiosity. Religiosity was assessed using a four-item scale, an example of a scale item is "How often do you pray or meditate?". Additionally, the survey assessed adolescents' self-efficacy to communicate with their partners about sex, STD/HIV prevention, and refusing unsafe sexaul encounters. Further, the survey assessed attitudes toward using condoms. The interview assessed adolescents' STD/HIV-associated sexual behaviors. Results: In multivariate analyses, controlling for dual parent family, primary caretaker and parental monitoring, adolescents who were more religious were more likely to have a higher self-efficacy to communicate with new partners about sex (OR=2.3, p=.0001); to communicate with a steady partner about sex (OR=1.9, p=.001); to communicate more about STD, HIV and pregnancy prevention (OR=2.5; p=.0001) and to refuse unsafe sexual encounters (OR=2.1; p=.0001). Additionally, they were more likely to have more positive attitudes towards using condoms (OR=1.5; p=.02) and more favorable attitudes about condoms (OR=1.7; p=.004). Finally, adolescents were more likely to have used condoms in the past 6 months (OR=1.6; p=.06). Conclusions: These findings suggest the importance of addressing religiosity in designing HIV/AIDS prevention programs for adolescents.
Learning Objectives: 1. "During this session, faculty will discusss recent research regarding the relationships between religiosity and African-American adolescents' HIV/AID related sexual behaviors." 2. "During this session, faculty will discuss implications regarding integrating issues of religiosity into HIV/AIDS prevention programs for adolescents."
Keywords: Adolescents, Sexual Risk Behavior
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.