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...of adolescent detainees (ADs). Youth (N = 2280) were recruited from two youth detention facilities and enrolled in one of two levels of a risk reduction intervention. Females were oversampled and made up 59% of the sample. Participants ranged in age from 11 to 18 years (M = 15. 2; SD = 1.1). Fifty-seven percent of the sample was black, and 37% were white. Hispanic youth made up 2% of the sample. Youth in younger age categories generally initiated all sexual activity at an earlier age than youth in older age categories. Males had more lifetime partners for vaginal and anal sex; however females were more likely to have not used condoms in the month preceding detainment. ADs initiate sexual activity at early ages, and have multiplepartners. They are also inconsistent in their use of condoms, thus increasing their chance of HIV infection. This study documents risk behavior in ADs and speaks to the need for comprehensive and targeted HIV interventions with these youth.
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Adolescent detainees (ADs) represent a high-risk subset of youth (Council on Scientific Affairs, 1990) partly due to increased risk activity across a broad spectrum of behaviors. These include delinquent activity, substance use and sexual risk behavior. Studies have shown that these youth are more sexually experienced and engage in fewer sexual protective practices than youth who are not incarcerated (DiClemente, Lanier, Horan, & Lodico, 1991; Forrest, Tambor, Riley; Ensminger & Starfield, 2000) thereby placing them at increased risk for the negative health outcomes associated with unprotected sexual activity (sexually transmitted infections [STIs], including HIV, and also unintended pregnancies). Several factors associated with these negative health outcomes have been identified in detained youth, including early onset of sexual activity, multiple partners and non-condom use (Bell, Farrow, Stamm, Critchlow, & Holmes, 1985; Canterbury et al., 1995; DiClemente, 1991; Elfenbein, Weber, & Grob, 1991; Forst, 1994; Gillmore, Morrison, Lowery, & Baker, 1994; Harwell, Trino, Rudy, Yorkman, & Gollub, 1999; Kelly, Blair, Baillargeon, & German, 2000; Lanier, Pack, DiClemente, 1999; Magura, Shapiro, & Kang, 1994; Morris, Baker, Valentine, & Pennisi, 1998; Morris et al., 1995; Oh et al., 1994; Pack, DiClemente, Hook, & Oh, 2000; Rickman et al., 1994; Sharer et al., 1993; Weber, Gearing, Davis, & Conlon, 1992; Weber, Elfenbein, Richards, Davis, & Thomas, 1989).
In contrast to approximately half of high school youth who are sexually active (Kann et al., 2000), findings show that upwards of 80% of juvenile offender samples report initiation of sexual activity (Forst, 1994; Harwell et al., 1999; Kelly et al., 2000; Morris et al., 1998; Morris et al., 1995; Weber et al., 1992; Weber et al., 1989; Lanier et al., 1991). Weber and colleagues examined sexual activity in delinquent adolescents and found that 83% reported previous sexual experience. More recent studies have found that over 90% of these youth report being sexually active (Harwell et al., 1999; Kelly et al., 2000; Morris et al., 1998), many initiating before age 13.
A large majority of detained youth have initiated sexual activity at an early age. Several studies have found that the average age of initiation falls between 12 and 13 (Forst, 1994; Gillmore et al, 1994; Harwell et al., 1999); one study of minority males reported a mean age of 11.9 for sexual initiation (Pack et al., 2000). Kelly and colleagues (2000) found that 69% of the sample initiated sex before age 13, while another study of an all-male sample found that approximately 27% had a sexual experience by age 11 (Weber et al., 1992). The latter researchers also found that males who had their first sexual experience before age 11, or with a female 2 or more years older, reported significantly larger numbers of sexual partners in their lifetime and during the year preceding their incarceration.
Other studies have documented adolescent detainee populations as high-risk due to their involvement with multiple sex partners. Canterbury et al. (1995) found that 76% of youth in their sample reported having three or more sexual partners, while others found that almost half (46.5%) their sample had greater than five lifetime partners (Kelly et al., 2000). A study including only male detainees found that the majority of those interviewed (55%) had 13 or more partners in the three months preceding the survey (Shafer et al., 1993). Another examination of an all male sample found the median number of lifetime partners to be 8, ranging from 1-100 with the mean number of lifetime partners being 10.4 and 17.9 for youth with first time and multiple admissions, respectively (Rickman et al., 1994). While the documented number of partners...
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