Original articleReligiosity and risky sexual behavior in African-American adolescent females
Section snippets
Participants
From December 1996 through April 1999, 1130 female adolescents who attended adolescent medicine clinics, health department clinics, and school health classes were screened for eligibility in an STD/HIV-prevention trial. The recruitment sites were in neighborhoods characterized by high rates of unemployment, substance abuse, and STDs. There were no statistically significant differences in sexual behavior (episodes of sexual intercourse and condom use in the last 6 months) or in prevalence of
Univariate analyses
This sample reported a high degree of religious involvement; 63.5% of the adolescents reported high religiosity scores (≥ 10). Almost two-thirds of the sample (71.5%) listed Baptist as their religious affiliation. The mean age of the participants was 16 years. Approximately 81% were full-time students, and the largest percentage (28%) reported having completed their freshman year of high school. Only 21.6% stated that they were living in a dual-parent household, whereas 57.5% reported living in
Discussion
This study examined the associations between religiosity, defined as religious involvement and practices, and STD/HIV-preventive behaviors among African-American adolescent females. Findings suggest that greater religious involvement is a protective factor. Adolescents who had higher religiosity scores were significantly more likely to have higher self-efficacy in communicating with both new and steady partners about sex; communicating about STDs, HIV, and pregnancy prevention with their
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by grant 1R01 MH54412 from the Center for Mental Health Research on AIDS, National Institute of Mental Health, Rockville, Maryland (Drs. DiClemente, Wingood, and Davies, and Katherine Harrington); and an Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine/CDC STD Prevention Fellowship (Dr. McCree).
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