HIV research in American youth

A national survey of substance abuse treatment for juvenile offenders

Despite consensus about the value of substance abuse treatment for delinquent youth, information about its prevalence and availability is inadequate and inconsistent. This article presents findings about treatment and other correctional service provision from a national survey of directors of 141 juvenile institutional and community corrections (CC) facilities. Educational/General Educational Development programming and drug and alcohol education were the most prevalent types of correctional and substance abuse services. Other common services included physical health services and mental health assessment, provided to about 60% of youth across facilities, and mental health counseling, life and communication skills, and anger management, provided to about half of the youth. Substance abuse treatment, as with most other services, were more prevalent in large, state-funded residential facilities (where 66% provided treatment) than in local detention centers (20%) and CC facilities (56%). More detailed data showed that the number of youth attending treatment in all types of facilities on any given day was very low.

HIV/AIDS protective factors among urban American Indian youths

This research examined how family and individual factors influence 3 HIV/AIDS risk behaviors: having more than 1 sexual partner in the last 3 months, substance use at last sexual intercourse, and condom non-use at last sexual intercourse. The sample includes 89 sexually active American Indian adolescents living in a large Southwestern U.S. city. Logistic regression results revealed that family communication acts as a protective factor against HIV risk through a lower reported substance use during last sexual intercourse, but it did not appear to affect the number of multiple recent sex partners. Family and personal involvement in American Indian cultural activities, both low on average in this urban sample, had no effect on outcomes. This study advances knowledge on sexual health risk and protective factors among American Indian adolescents, an understudied group, and provides implications for prevention intervention with American Indian youths and their families.

Prevalence of HIV infection among young adults in the United States: results from the Add Health study

OBJECTIVES

We estimated HIV prevalence rates among young adults in the United States.

METHODS

We used survey data from the third wave of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a random sample of nearly 19000 young adults initiated in 1994-1995. Consenting respondents were screened for the presence of antibodies to HIV-1 in oral mucosal transudate specimens. We calculated prevalence rates, accounting for survey design, response rates, and test performance.

RESULTS

Among the 13184 participants, the HIV prevalence rate was 1.0 per 1000 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.4, 1.7). Gender-specific prevalence rates were similar, but rates differed markedly between non-Hispanic Blacks (4.9 per 1000; 95% CI=1.8, 8.7) and members of other racial/ethnic groups (0.22 per 1000; 95% CI=0.00, 0.64).

CONCLUSIONS

Racial disparities in HIV in the United States are established early in the life span, and our data suggest that 15% to 30% of all cases of HIV occur among individuals younger than 25 years.