The Nightmare of Homeless Youth.

Risky Sexual Behavior Of Newly Homeless Youth Varies

Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Jan. 9, 2008) — Newly homeless youth are likelier to engage in risky sexual behavior if they stay in nonfamily settings -- such as friends' homes, abandoned buildings or the streets -- because they lack supervision and social support, a new UCLA AIDS Institute study has found.

Drug use also factored into this behavior, according to the study, published in Journal of Adolescent Health.

This is the first time that researchers have followed newly homeless youth -- those who have been away from home for a period between one day and six months -- for any length of time to track how their behavior changes. The researchers examined how individual factors, such as sociodemographics, depression and substance abuse, and structural factors, such as living situations, can influence sexual behavior.

Drug use also factored into this behavior, according to the study, published in Journal of Adolescent Health.

This is the first time that researchers have followed newly homeless youth -- those who have been away from home for a period between one day and six months -- for any length of time to track how their behavior changes. The researchers examined how individual factors, such as sociodemographics, depression and substance abuse, and structural factors, such as living situations, can influence sexual behavior.

"The reason these findings are so important is that interventions in the past have focused on addressing individual risk behavior and not on addressing structural factors, such as living situations, that might have an impact on their behavior," said lead author Dr. M. Rosa Solorio, assistant professor of family medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a member of the UCLA AIDS Institute. "When we look at homeless youth, we want to consider these structural factors if we want them to reduce their risky behavior and thereby prevent sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV."

Adapted from materials provided by University of California - Los Angeles.