Objective: Dual use of male condoms and female contraceptives is widely advocated for unplanned pregnancy prevention, yet college students often neglect condoms. This feasibility and acceptability study assessed the efficacy of a self-guided home-based condom-promotion intervention among college students in heterosexual relationships.…

Objective: To conduct a pilot test of a brief, self-guided, home-based program designed to improve male condom use attitudes and behaviors among young women. Participants: Women aged 18-24 years from a large Midwestern University reporting having had penile-vaginal sex with two or more partners in the past 3 months. Sixty-seven enrolled; 91.0%…

Objective: To determine the event-level associations between perceived risk of sexually transmitted disease (STD) acquisition/transmission and condom use during penile-vaginal intercourse (PVI) among STD clinic attendees. Method: A convenience sample (N = 622) completed daily electronic assessments. Two questions were proxies of perceived risk:…

A mathematical model of HIV/sexually transmitted infections (STI) transmission was used to examine how linearity or nonlinearity in the relationship between the number of unprotected sex acts (or the number of sex partners) and the risk of acquiring HIV or a highly infectious STI (such as gonorrhea or chlamydia) affects the utility of sexual…

Objective: This pilot study tested the efficacy of a brief, novel, theory-driven, self-guided, home-based intervention designed to promote condom use among young men who have sex with men (YMSM). Participants: Thirty YMSM were recruited from a large public US midwestern university during spring of 2012. Methods: The intervention was tested using a…

Objective: To identify associations between engaging in oral sex and perceived risk of oral cancer among college men. Also, to identify associations, and their moderating factors, between oral sex and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine acceptance. Methods: Young men were recruited from 2 university campuses in the South (N = 150). Men completed an…

This study sought to determine the perspective taken toward understanding adolescent sexual risk behaviors and related biological outcomes (i.e. pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases) since 1990. We content analyzed 324 abstracts representing observational research published between January 1990 and December 2007 for inclusion of ecological…

The relationship between sexual sensation seeking and sexual risk taking has been investigated among adult populations. There are limited data, however, regarding this relationship for adolescents. Since African-American adolescent females continue to be disproportionately diagnosed with STDs, including HIV, we examined this association among a…

Background: Although quantitative assessment of male condom use errors and problems has received increased research attention, few studies have qualitatively examined this sexual health behavior. Purpose: This study examined problems of male condom use as experienced by college men and women at a large, public Midwestern university. Methods:…

This study examined the psychometric properties of a new scale to measure adolescents' worry regarding outcomes of risky sexual behavior (i.e. sexually transmitted infections, including HIV [STI/HIV], and unintended pregnancy). The 10-item worry about sexual outcomes (WASO) scale, resulting in two subscales STI/HIV worry and pregnancy worry, was…

Background: Estimates suggest that about 48% of nearly 19 million cases of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) occurring annually in the United States are acquired by persons aged 15-24 years. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that adolescents' attitudes about protecting themselves from STDs predict their laboratory-confirmed…

The purpose of this research was to identify environmental factors that influence incarcerated adolescents' risk for HIV/STDs. Based on data from six gender-stratified focus groups consisting of 28 incarcerated adolescents from three detention centers in Georgia, the following salient environments emerged: schools, families, peer groups,…

The authors used Bronfenbrenner's conceptual framework of an ecological systems model to examine factors that are independently associated with sexually transmitted disease (STD) risk behaviors among 280 sexually active detained female adolescents. Using computer-assisted self-interviewing procedures, the authors assessed individual…

Describes adolescents' use of school-based health clinics (SBCs) for family planning and sexually transmitted disease (STD)-related services, using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Results indicated that 13 percent received family planning and 8.9 percent received STD-related services from SBCs. Factors affecting the…

Investigated whether living in a supportive family was an HIV/STD-protective factor for at-risk African American adolescent girls. Surveys supported the association between living in perceived supportive families and HIV/STD protective benefits. Supportive families enhanced girls' confidence in their ability to negotiate condom use and helped them…