| Popis: |
Justice-involved youth are at increased risk of contracting HIV and STIs. HIV/STI prevention programs for justice-involved youth are typically implemented with detained and/or incarcerated youth. The majority of arrested youth is diverted from juvenile detention and/or placement and remain in the community. These youth, known as court-involved, non-incarcerated (CINI) youth, are exposed to the same sexual health risks as their detained and/or incarcerated peers, but have greater opportunities to engage in sexual risk-taking and less access to needed sexual health care and intervention. Providing CINI youth with sexual health programming and HIV/STI prevention interventions is vital to ensuring these youths' long-term sexual health as well as addressing a major public health issue. This study examined differences in sexual health knowledge and engagement in risky sex behaviors among 625 young adults with and without juvenile arrest histories. Young adults were identified as former community youth if they had not been arrested prior to age 18; former CINI youth, if arrested before age 18 and only detained for no more than 30 days; or former incarcerated youth if arrested before age 18 and placed within a post-adjudication juvenile justice facility for more than 30 days. Results revealed that participants held similar degrees of sexual health knowledge, with greater familiarity of HIV than STI information. Notably, former CINI youth engaged more frequently in risky sex behaviors than did former community youth. Further, the prototype-willingness model was applied to sexual risk-taking in this young adult sample to identify areas warranting future sexual health programming for CINI youth. Favorable impressions of sexually promiscuous peers and willingness to have unprotected sex appeared to positively influence former community and former CINI youths' engagement in risky sex behaviors. Results are discussed in the context of modifying existing sexual health programming and substance use treatment for former community and former incarcerated youth as well as implementing peer-based HIV/STI interventions to better meet CINI youths' unique sexual health needs. |
