Alcohol and HIV risk behaviors in the U.S. Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2005-2021: A systematic review

• In Event: 20820 - Section on Medical Sociology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 4. Health Behaviors

Abstract

Alcohol use among adolescents is a significant public health concern, considering both the direct health impacts of alcohol use and its potential relationships to other health risk behaviors. In particular, alcohol use has been linked to sexual behaviors that may increase adolescents’ risk for HIV (i.e., multiple sexual partners, condom non-use). To gain a deeper understanding of the relationships between various alcohol- and HIV-related risk behaviors among adolescents, we conducted a systematic review of studies analyzing data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey from 2005 to 2021. The 17 studies included in the review revealed complex results. While frequency of alcohol use and binge drinking consistently predict a greater number of sexual partners, there is mixed evidence that alcohol use and binge drinking predict condom non-use. Some limited evidence suggests that age of first alcohol use does not predict condom non-use. Importantly, studies varied widely in their uses of lifetime versus recent and binary versus ordinal measures of these behaviors. Additionally, few studies structured their analyses around sociologically informed theories of risk behaviors. Based on these findings, we promote a nuanced approach to analyzing youth health risk behaviors as multidimensional, interactive phenomena that are shaped by multiple levels of social context.

Authors

• Shahin Davoudpour, University of California-Irvine

• Maddie Olivia Kerr, University of California, Berkeley