Providence, RI A new study from the Bradley Hasbro Children's Research Center and Brown Medical School reveals that African American teens with symptoms of depression are more than four times likely to engage in risky sexual behavior (i.e. not wear condoms).
This is one of the first studies that looks at African American teens of both genders and from more than one geographic location. It concludes that depressive symptoms (feeling lonely, feeling blue, feelings of worthlessness etc.) can indicate future sexual risk.
The findings appear in the current online edition of the Journal of Adolescent Health.
"This means that clinicians should assess symptoms of depression in African American patients as an indicator of future sexual risk, and HIV intervention programs should be designed as to address depression, especially in this population," says lead author, Larry K. Brown, MD, a child psychiatrist with the Bradley Hasbro Children's Research Center and Brown Medical School.
Four hundred and fifteen African American adolescents and young adults (1521 years of age) from Atlanta and Providence, who had had unprotected sex within the past ninety days, participated in this study.
They were asked about the number times they'd had unsafe sex in the past ninety days, and about their particular attitudes concerning condom use (e.g. are they pleasurable/unpleasurable). Participants were also asked to answer questions on their psychological distress. They rated, on a scale of zero to four, whether or not they were lonely, feeling blue, feeling no interest in things, feeling hopeless about the future and feeling worthless.
The odds that African American adolescents who reported depressive symptoms at baseline would report inconsistent condom use at six-month follow-up was approximately four times greater than that of their peers who did not report depressive symptoms, the study reports.
Additionally, out of the four hundred and fifteen
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Contact: Carol L. Vieira
cvieira1@lifespan.org
401-432-1328
Lifespan
5-Sep-2006