Advancing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
 
Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health
Volume 40, Number 4, December 2008

Changes in Sexual Risk Behavior as Young Men Transition to Adulthood

By Jacinda K. Dariotis, Freya L. Sonenstein, Gary J. Gates, Randy Capps, Nan M. Astone, Joseph H. Pleck, Frangiscos Sifakis and Scott Zeger

CONTEXT: Understanding how young men's sexual risk behaviors change during the transition from adolescence to early adulthood is important for the design and evaluation of effective strategies to reduce the transmission of HIV and other STDs.

METHODS: Data from three waves of the National Survey of Adolescent Males (1988, 1991 and 1995) were used to categorize 1,880 respondents into clusters according to sexual risk behaviors. Univariate and bivariate analyses were conducted to assess associations between clusters and rates of self-reported STD diagnoses and positive chlamydia tests.

RESULTS: Two dimensions of sexual risk-taking defined the clusters: partner characteristics and condom use. More than 50% of men remained in low-risk groups over time. In the first two waves, 24–32% of men reported engaging in high-risk behaviors (risky partners, condom nonuse); these behaviors were associated with elevated levels of STD outcomes. Nearly 40% of men who entered a high-risk group in the first two waves transitioned to a lower risk group by the third wave. Nine percent of men either engaged in increasingly risky behaviors or maintained membership in high-risk groups; elevated STD rates characterized both trajectories. Low condom use combined with having multiple partners during adolescence was associated with elevated STD rates in the year preceding the third wave; high condom use coupled with having risky partners was not.

CONCLUSIONS: The prominence of low-risk behaviors over time suggests that most young men avoid sexual risk-taking. Effective strategies to reduce HIV and STD risk in young men must simultaneously address multiple dimensions of sexual behavior.

Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2008, 40(4):218–225

DOI:10.1363/4021808







 

 
 

Jacinda K. Dariotis is assistant scientist, Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health; Freya L. Sonenstein is professor and director, Center for Adolescent Health, Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health; Nan M. Astone is associate professor, Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health; Frangiscos Sifakis is assistant scientist, Department of Epidemiology; and Scott Zeger is professor, Department of Biostatistics, and vice provost for research— all at The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore. Gary J. Gates is senior research fellow, Williams Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law. Randy Capps is senior research associate, Urban Institute, Washington, DC. Joseph H. Pleck is professor, Department of Human and Community Development, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.