HIV Risk Behavior & Internalizing/Externalizing Psychopathology among Adolescents in Court-Ordered Treatment
BACKGROUND:
The
confluence of drug use behaviors, sexual risk, and psychopathology may
complicate human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention intervention for
adolescents engaging in substance use and criminal behavior. However, few
studies have examined these risk associations.
OBJECTIVE:
This
study identified HIV risk behavior subgroups among adolescents in court-ordered
substance abuse treatment and examined linkages with dimensions of
internalizing and externalizing psychopathology.
METHODS:
Internalizing
and externalizing behaviors were assessed with the Millon Adolescent Clinical
Inventory (MACI). Latent class analysis was used to identify subgroups on the
basis of involvement in substance use proximal to sex, number of partners, and
consistency of condom use.
RESULTS:
Participants
(n = 301) were identified as demonstrating high, medium, or low levels of
sexual risk behavior. Greater externalizing psychopathology distinguished the
high risk class from the medium risk class and from the low risk class.
CONCLUSION:
Detained
youth with particularly serious oppositional-defiant behavioral
characteristics, substance use, and sex risk behavior likely require intensive
interventions that address the multiple systemic factors that contribute to the
development and maintenance of this pattern.
- 1 Department of Educational and Psychological Studies , University of Miami , Coral Gables , FL , USA.
- 2 Department of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention , Florida International University , Miami , FL , USA.
- Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse. 2016 Feb 10:1-9.
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