Associations Between Psychiatric Impairment and Sexual Risk Behavior Among Teens in Mental Health Treatment

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Wendy Hadley, Brown University; David H. Barker, Brown University; Celia M. Lescano, University of South Florida; Angela J. Stewart, Brown University; Katelyn Affleck, Brown University; Geri Donenberg, University of Illinois; Ralph Diclemente, Emory University; Larry K. Brown, Brown University
• Language: English
• Date: 2014-01-01
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge): STM, Behavioural Science and Public Health Titles
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2014 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15381501.2013.789416
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Journal of HIV/AIDS and Social Services
• ISSN: 1538-1501
• Volume: 13
• Issue: 2
• Start Page: 198
• End Page: 213
• Grant/Funding Information: Research supported by National Institute for Mental Health grant R01MH63008 to Rhode Island Hospital (PI Larry K. Brown, MD) and the Lifespan/Tufts/Brown Center for AIDS Research.
• Keywords: sexual risk-taking; mental illness; adolescents
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery; Health Sciences, Public Health; Sociology, Public and Social Welfare

Abstract

The authors' aims were to assess the associations of sexual risk behavior with psychiatric impairment and individual, peer, and partner attitudes among adolescents receiving mental health treatment. Adolescents (N = 893, 56% female, 67% African American) completed assessments of psychiatric impairment, rejection sensitivity, peer norms, HIV knowledge, perceived vulnerability, self-efficacy, and condom use intentions. Two structural equation models were used to test the study hypotheses: one for sexually active youth and one for nonactive youth. For nonactive youth, psychiatric impairment influenced self-efficacy and condom use intentions via peer norms, rejection sensitivity, and perceived vulnerability. Among the sexually active youth, sexual risk was related to impairment and previous condom use. These results suggest that individual, peer, and partner factors are related to impairment and to sexual risk attitudes but depend on previous sexual experience.