HIV risk behavior among ethnically diverse adolescents living in low-income housing developments.

Purpose: To describe patterns and predictors of HIV risk behaviors among ethnically diverse, low-income adolescents.

Methods: Computer-assisted surveys were administered to 1172 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 years living in 15 low-income housing developments in three urban areas in the United States to characterize and identify predictors of HIV risk behavior. Data were analyzed using multinomial logistic regression to identify variables predictive of "no risk," "lower risk," and "higher risk" group classification.

Results: Most adolescents were not yet sexually active; nonetheless, a subset of youth reported high rates of HIV risk-related behaviors. HIV risk was highest among adolescents who were older, had weaker intentions to reduce risk, stronger beliefs that their sexual partners did not favor risk-reduction, lower risk-reduction behavioral skills, higher risk-reduction outcome expectation, and higher rates of substance use.

Conclusions: HIV prevention efforts are needed that are tailored to ethnically diverse communities of adolescents, including those in early adolescence and those at highest risk.