Background

Juvenile justice-involved African American girls are considered uniformly high-risk for adverse sexual health outcomes such as sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and pregnancy; however, their sexual health statuses may be more complex.

Objective

The present study assessed whether diverse subgroups of sexual risk exist and explored variations by socio-contextual indicators and sexual health outcomes.

Method

The sample consisted of 188 detained African American adolescent girls. Six key sexual risk model indicators were selected for latent class analysis: early sex initiation, unprotected sex, high number of sex partners, sex while intoxicated, having sex with a recently incarcerated partner, and trading sex.

Results

Results revealed a four-class solution: “Lowest Risk” (40.3%), with relatively low endorsement of sexual risk items; “Precocious Debut” (19.5%), with early sexual initiation and highest number of sex partners; “Delayed Risk” (30.3%), with later sexual debut but elevated unprotected sex and number of sex partners; and “Highest Risk” (9.9%), with the highest proportions on most indicators, but lower numbers of sex partners compared to Precocious Debut. Classes differed significantly on sexual health outcomes and demographic, neighborhood, peer, family, and individual factors. High Risk, Precocious Debut, and Delayed Risk were associated with greater prevalence of STIs. Lowest Risk and Precocious Debut classes had fewer prior pregnancies. Lowest Risk girls were significantly lower on a range of risk outcomes.

Conclusions

Heterogeneous profiles of sexual risk may inform future prevention and interventions for at-risk or detained African American girls.

中文翻译：

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涉及少年司法的非洲裔美国女孩中性风险状况的异质性

背景

涉及少年司法的非洲裔美国女孩被认为具有不良性健康后果（如性传播感染和怀孕）的风险普遍较高；但是，他们的性健康状况可能更为复杂。

目的

本研究评估了性风险的亚组是否存在，并通过社会背景指标和性健康结果探讨了变异。

方法

样本包括188名被拘留的非洲裔美国少女。选择了六个关键的性风险模型指标用于潜在的类别分析：早期性行为发起，无保护的性行为，大量的性伴侣，醉酒时的性行为，与最近被监禁的伴侣发生性行为以及进行性交易。

结果

结果显示出四类解决方案：“最低风险”（40.3％），对性风险项目的认可相对较低；“早熟登场”（19.5％），具有早起的性行为和最多的性伴侣；“延迟风险”（30.3％），以后有性行为首次亮相，但无保护的性行为和性伴侣数量增加；和“最高风险”（9.9％），在大多数指标上所占比例最高，但性早熟相比，性伴侣的人数要少。在性健康结果和人口统计学，邻里，同龄人，家庭和个人因素方面，课程差异很大。高风险，过早出世和延迟风险与性传播感染的患病率更高有关。最低风险和早熟首次上课的孕妇较少。最低风险女孩在一系列风险结果中的比例明显较低。

结论

性风险的异质性可能会为将来处于危险中或被拘留的非洲裔美国女孩的预防和干预提供信息。