The broad objective of the research proposed in this competitive continuation application is to identify effective theory-based, culturally sensitive interventions to reduce HIV risk-associated sexual behavior among African American adolescents who reside in urban areas.
The specific aims are to determine (a) whether the effects of abstinence-based and safer-sex HIV risk-reduction interventions on self- reported sexual behavior are evident at 36-month follow-up; (b) whether the interventions affect the incidence of clinically documented sexually transmitted diseases (STDs); and (c) whether the interventions affect mediators of behavior change at 36-month follow-up. The proposed research is a 36-month follow-up of a randomized controlled trial of HIV risk-reduction behavior interventions. The participant will be 659 African American adolescents from low-income, inner-city communities in Pennsylvania who received 1 of 3 interventions led by an adult facilitator or two peer co-facilitators: (a) an abstinence HIV risk- reduction intervention that stressed delaying sexual intercourse or reducing its frequency; (b) a safer sex HIV risk-reduction intervention that stressed condo use; or (c) a general health promotion intervention concerning health issues unrelated to sexual behavior, which served as the control condition. The adolescents will complete confidential self- report questionnaires regarding frequency of unprotected coitus, frequency of coitus, and frequency of condom use. Other self-report measures will include intentions, beliefs, and self- sufficiency theoretically relevant variables hypothesized to mediate intervention effects. In addition, participants will provide urine samples that will be tested for Chlamydia and Gonorrhea using ligase chain reaction (LCR)- based tests. The data will be analyzed with analyses of effects of covariance, planned contrasts, multiple regression, and logistic regression. Analyses will: (a) test the effects of the interventions on sexual behavior, STD incidence, and mediators of sexual behavior; (b) examine whether intervention effects are systematically different as a function of key moderator variables, including preintervention sexual experience; and (c) determine whether the incidence of STDs among the participants (average age of 14.8 years) can be predicted by participants= characteristics and by theoretical variables measured at preintervention, 3 years ago. The results of this project will contribute to the scientific knowledge regarding the long-term effects of HIV risk-reduction interventions for young inner-city African American adolescents.
| Jemmott 3rd, J B; Jemmott, L S (2000) HIV risk reduction behavioral interventions with heterosexual adolescents. AIDS 14 Suppl 2:S40-52 |
| Jemmott 3rd, J B; Jemmott, L S; Fong, G T (1998) Abstinence and safer sex HIV risk-reduction interventions for African American adolescents: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA 279:1529-36 |
