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Drug use and sexually transmitted diseases among female and male arrested youths

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Abstract

Knowledge of the rates and correlates of juvenile offenders’ sexually transmitted diseases (STD) has been limited to samples of incarcerated youths comprised mostly of males. Data collected on 442 female and 506 male youths processed at a centralized intake facility enabled us to study this important public health problem among a sample of juvenile offenders at the front end of the justice system. Female–male, multi-group latent class analyses identified two subgroups, High Risk and Lower Risk, of youths described by a latent construct of risk based on drug test results, STD test results, and a classification for the seriousness of arrest charge. The results found: (1) a similar classification distinguished High Risk and Lower Risk male and female youths, and (2) important gender group differences in sexual risk related factors (e.g., substance use during sexual encounters). Among the youths in this sample who tested positive for an STD, 66% of the girls and 57% of the boys were released back into the community after arrest. Overall, our findings raise serious public health and social welfare concerns, for both the youths and the community. Prevention and intervention implications of these findings are also discussed.

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Notes

  1. The Vuong-Lo-Mendell-Rubin likelihood ratio test, Lo-Mendell-Rubin adjusted likelihood ratio test, and the bootstrap likelihood ratio test statistics (Nylund et al. 2007; Lo et al. 2001) were not available for the “known class,” multi-group LCA we conducted (Muthén and Muthén 2007).

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Acknowledgements

Preparation of this manuscript was supported by grant no. DA020346, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The authors are grateful for their support. However, the research results reported and the views expressed in the paper do not necessarily imply any policy or research endorsement by our funding agency. We would also like to thank the Hillsborough County, FL Juvenile Assessment Center and the Hillsborough County Health Department.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminology, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa, FL, 33620, USA

    Richard Dembo & Kristina Childs

  2. Department of Criminal Justice, Temple University, 1115 West Berks St., Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA

    Steven Belenko

  3. Department of Criminal Justice, Wayne State University, 3278 Faculty/Administration Bldg., Detroit, MI, 48202, USA

    Jennifer Wareham

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  1. Richard Dembo
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Correspondence to Richard Dembo.

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Dembo, R., Belenko, S., Childs, K. et al. Drug use and sexually transmitted diseases among female and male arrested youths. J Behav Med 32, 129–141 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-008-9183-2

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