Effect of multi-level social risk factors on developmental trajectories of sexual risk behaviors among Bahamian middle-to-late adolescents.

Background: Few studies have examined how multi-level social factors interact and affect developmental patterns of sexual risk among middle-to-late adolescents who are at risk of experiencing sexual risk behaviors. We examined developmental trajectories of sexual risk behaviors of boys and girls in middle-to-late adolescence and the effects of exposure to three social risk factors (poor parental monitoring, peer risk, and neighborhood risk).

Methods: We followed 2,332 Bahamian adolescents every six months from Grades 10-12. We used group-based trajectory modeling to identify distinct trajectories of sexual risk behaviors for boys and girls.

Results: We identified three trajectories each for boys and girls. Peer risk and neighborhood risk predicted a high sexual-risk trajectory for boys, and peer risk (alone or combined with other risk factors) had the greatest impact on the membership of moderate-to-high-risk trajectory for girls. Parental monitoring had a relatively small effect on adolescents' sexual risk behavior.

Conclusion: Our results underscore the importance of early identification of adolescents with sexual risk behavior and development of targeted prevention interventions to improve adolescent health outcomes.