Longitudinal Associations Between Adolescent Alcohol Use and Adulthood Sexual Risk Behavior and Sexually Transmitted Infection in the United States: Assessment of Differences by Race

Abstract

African American and White adolescent drinkers are priority populations for STI prevention. Prevention of adolescent alcohol use may contribute to reductions in adulthood STI risk.

Developmental Patterns of Adolescent Marijuana and Alcohol Use and Their Joint Association with Sexual Risk Behavior and Outcomes in Young Adulthood

“…As hypothesized, for just about all comparisons, the three substance use classes had poorer outcomes than the non-use class, including engaging in sex without a condom more frequently, having 1.5-2 times higher level of multiple sexual partners, two to three times the level of sexually transmitted infection, and higher levels of teenage pregnancy. Thus, developmental trajectories involving substance use across adolescence in general seem to be associated with differential sexual risk among urban young adults, consistent with previous work identifying longitudinal associations between adolescent substance use and later sexual outcomes [13,21,30,46].…”

Demographic Predictors of Event-Level Associations between Alcohol Consumption and Sexual Behavior

“…Being Latino was associated with a lower likelihood of sex without a condom (when compared to whites). Lower rates of condom use among white participants compared to Latinos is consistent with other research, 11,41 perhaps reflecting more reliance on condoms for birth control among people of color (owing to socioeconomic differences in access to hormonal contraception), efficacy of safer sex interventions aimed at racial and ethnic minorities, and/or awareness of increased risk for HIV and other STIs. Age predicted the quantity of drinking prior to sex at the event level, such that older participants reported fewer drinks prior to sex than did younger participants.…”

“…17 Though most research focuses on racially and ethnically homogenous samples or ignores racial and ethnic variability within samples, race and ethnicity may impact associations between drinking and sex because of culturally specific norms about drinking and sex, 37,38 discrimination-related mechanisms of drinking and sexual risk, 39,40 the likelihood of negative sexual health outcomes (and subsequent public health prevention efforts), 11 and/or varying developmental trajectories of drinking, sexual behavior, and their association. 41,42 Samples consisting solely of African American participants indicate associations between alcohol and sexual risk intentions or behaviors. 2,43,44 A smaller body of research has examined race and ethnicity as moderators of the links between alcohol use and sexual behavior, often finding stronger associations between alcohol consumption and sexual behavior among whites.…”

The Interplay Between Risky Sexual Behaviors and Alcohol Dependence: Genome-Wide Association and Neuroimaging Support for LHPP as a Risk Gene

“…The molecular mechanisms at the basis of psychiatric diseases may include pathogenic pathways that cause the increased RSB observed in psychiatric patients. Subjects with AD also present increased RSB (Chaney et al, 2016;Corbin et al, 2016;Khan et al, 2012;Tran et al, 2016). We hypothesize that AD affects the same molecular mechanisms responsible for RSB in psychiatric patients.…”

“…Risky sexual behaviors (RSB) associated with alcohol misuse contribute substantially to the~15 million new cases of sexually transmitted diseases (STD) diagnosed annually in the United States (Chaney et al, 2016;Corbin et al, 2016;Khan et al, 2012;Tran et al, 2016). Neurobiological investigations have provided insight into some of the alcohol-related mechanisms of brain disinhibition that may lead to RSB (Spanagel, 2009).…”