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F L Sonenstein

Publications and source records attributed to F L Sonenstein.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

Condom use.

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Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

The association of AIDS education and sex education with sexual behavior and condom use among teenage men.

According to a 1988 nationally representative survey, most 15-19--year-old men in the United States have received formal instruction about AIDS (73%), birth control (79%) and resisting sexual activity (58%). Results of multivariate analyses show the receipt of AIDS education and sex education to be associated with modest but significant decreases in the number of partners and the frequency of intercourse in the year prior to the survey. Having received instruction in these topics was also associated with more consistent condom use. Instruction in some topics was associated with increases in knowledge and attitudes about AIDS, but these increases were not always correlated with safer behavior.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

Patterns of HIV risk and preventive behaviors among teenage men.

Analyses of the 1988 National Survey of Adolescent Males indicate the prevalence of risk behaviors related to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, including sexual, contraceptive, and drug use behaviors, among 15- to 19-year-old men. About three-fifths had sexual intercourse, indicating that a majority of teenage men have at least some potential exposure to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or sexually transmitted disease. From a behavioral perspective, the average sexually active teenage man used a condom more than half the time in the 12 months before the interview. Those with most experience with sexual intercourse, however, used condoms least frequently. More important from an epidemiologic perspective, a third of all acts of intercourse in the prior year were protected using condoms. Further, behaviors with the greatest direct risks for HIV infection, such as homosexual intercourse, use of intravenous drugs, and sex with intravenous drug users or prostitutes, appear to be relatively uncommon. Teenage men who demonstrate high-risk behavior, including both sexual and substance abuse, compound their risks, because risks generally are correlated. Condom use is a preventive behavior that is negatively correlated with most risk behaviors; those who have multiple partners, or who are substance abusers, tend to use condoms least. The convergence of risks for multi-problem teenage men indicates the relevance of interventions directed to high-risk youths.

Adolescent

Levels of sexual activity among adolescent males in the United States.

Although three-fifths of adolescent males aged 15-19 say they have had sexual intercourse, analyses of data from the 1988 National Survey of Adolescent Males indicate that their level of sexual activity is relatively moderate. The data show that among sexually experienced young men the mean number of partners in the last 12 months is 1.9, and the mean frequency of intercourse in the last four weeks is 2.7 times. Black males have had more partners than white or Hispanic males; however, after the number of years since first intercourse are controlled for, these differences disappear. On average, sexually experienced youth spent six out of the last 12 months with no sexual partner, and only 21 percent of sexually active males had more than one partner in any month in the last year. Comparisons with 1979 data suggest that proportionately more adolescents were sexually experienced in 1988, but fewer non-black males had first intercourse before their 15th birthday. The number of partners since first intercourse and in the past four weeks appears to have decreased, as has the frequency of intercourse in the last four weeks.

Adolescent

Sexual activity, condom use and AIDS awareness among adolescent males.

New data from the 1988 National Survey of Adolescent Males indicate that 60 percent of never-married young men ages 15-19 are sexually active. Among 17-19-year-old males living in metropolitan areas, the rate of sexual activity reported in 1988 was 15 percent higher than that reported in 1979. This increase encompasses a rise of 23 percent among black males and 13 percent among nonblack males. Slightly more than half of the sexually active males in the 1988 survey reported that they had used a condom the last time they had had intercourse. Among both black and nonblack youths aged 17-19 living in metropolitan areas, rates of reported condom use at last intercourse more than doubled between 1979 and 1988. Conversely, reported reliance on ineffective methods of contraception or use of no method at last intercourse was 60 percent lower. When first intercourse occurred within two years of the 1988 survey, the odds of using a condom were increased by 110 percent over the odds when intercourse occurred between 1975 and 1982, after controlling for the effects of age at first intercourse, race and ethnicity. The young men in the sample were very knowledgeable about how the human immunodeficiency virus is transmitted, and over three-quarters of the sample did not dismiss the disease as uncommon, nor did they think that using condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS was too much trouble. The rates of condom use were significantly lower than average, however, among young men who had ever used drugs intravenously or whose partners had done so, young men who had ever had sex with a prostitute and those who had had five sexual partners or more in the past year.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome