Sexual Risk Behaviors of African American Adolescent Females: The Role of Cognitive and Religious Factors.

INTRODUCTION: African American (AA) high school-age girls are more likely to have had sex before age 13 years and have higher rates of all sexually transmitted infections. Cognition and religion/spirituality are associated with adolescent sexuality, therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify cognitive and religious substrates of AA girls' risky sexual behaviors. METHOD: A descriptive study was conducted with 65 AA girls aged 15 to 20 years using computerized questionnaires and cognitive function tasks. RESULTS: Average age was 17.8 ± 1.9 years and average sexual initiation age was 15.5 ± 2.6 years. Overall, 57.6% reported a history of vaginal sex. Girls who reported low/moderate religious importance were significantly younger at vaginal sex initiation than girls for whom religion was very/extremely important. Girls who attended church infrequently reported significantly more sexual partners. IMPLICATIONS: Health care providers can use these findings to deliver culturally congruent health care by assessing and addressing these psychosocial factors in this population.

Project genesis: self-reported religiosity and spirituality and sexual risk-taking in young African-American women attending a historically African-American college.

This pilot study explored the relationship between self-reported religiosity, spirituality, and sexual risk-taking. The participants were a convenience sample of (N = 100) female students attending a historically African-American college (HBCU) in the south. On this predominantly female campus, students completed an anonymous health-risk survey, plus additional items, to measure their religiosity and spirituality. Correlation analysis revealed that although these students reported a high degree of religiosity and spirituality, these characteristics did not predict a decrease in sexual risk-taking behavior. Over six million new cases of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including the human papilloma virus (HPV), are projected in young Americans despite primary prevention measures. Although no predictive relationships were noted, self-reported spirituality or religiosity were not protective factors against high-risk sexual behavior. These findings are relevant to developing effective interventions in this population in order to decrease STI/HPV rates.