Gender, Sexual Orientation, and Adolescent HIV Testing: A Qualitative Analysis

Abstract

Using qualitative data, this article explored the circumstances leading to HIV testing among 59 HIVinfected adolescents recruited from New York City HIV clinics. Results showed differences between the heterosexual women and the gay and bisexual men. Most of the young women were tested during routine health care or self-initiated tests, and most were asymptomatic when they tested positive. Their testing decisions were sometimes based on assessments of their boyfriends' risk behaviors, rather than their own. Many males were experiencing symptoms of illness when they tested positive, and about half of these recognized their symptoms as related to HIV and sought tests. Some young men expressed fear of learning about positive test results, which delayed their testing, and some providers did not initially recommend HIV testing for males who presented with symptoms. The article concludes that consideration of these gender and sexual orientation-related concerns can facilitate HIV testing among adolescents.

HIV testing among youth in a high-risk city: prevalence, predictors, and gender differences

“…In contrast, for men, African American race emerged as the sole predictor of HIV testing, with testing levels comparable across SES groupings. Among women, having a sexual partner older by two years or more was also significantly associated with HIV testing, corroborating past research (Siegel et al, 2010). Findings suggest the role of risk perception in women’s HIV testing patterns; in contrast, no individual or partner-level risk behaviors were associated with testing among men.…”

“…For example, risk perception is associated with testing among both men and women; though men engage in greater sexual risk behavior, their perception of their risk is often lower than that of women (Stein & Nyamathi, 2000). Women appear to test based on perceived partner risk, whereas men are more often symptomatic when tested or diagnosed, suggesting gender differences in testing motivation (Siegel, Lekas, Olson, & VanDevanter, 2010). …”

Factors Affecting Acceptance of Routine Human Immunodeficiency Virus Screening by Adolescents in Pediatric Emergency Departments

“…Similar to adult and pediatric ED data, in community-based and urban hospital-based adolescent HIV screening, a higher acceptance of HIV testing was observed among black populations. [21,24,31,32] In contrast to other adult and adolescent HIV screening data, there was no gender difference in the acceptance of the test, although as in other adolescent studies, more females were approached for screening than males in our EDs [24,25,30,31,33,34].…”

The Influence of Substance Use, Social Sexual Environment, Psychosocial Factors, and Partner Characteristics on High-Risk Sexual Behavior Among Young Black and Latino Men Who Have Sex with Men Living with HIV: A Qualitative Study

“…Further description of data analysis has been presented elsewhere. 32 Themes related to the analysis presented here were sexual behavior, the environment in which sexual behavior occurred, substance use in the context of sexual behavior, and the relationship between sexual partners. All interviews were coded and entered into a database utilizing the qualitative data analysis software, ATLAS.ti Ò version 4.2.…”