Violence Syndemics as a Way of Understanding Sexual Risk Among African-American Adolescents

Violence, namely racism and race-related stress, neighborhood violence, police violence, peer bullying, and family violence and disruptions, remains a significant public health concern in the United States [1,2]. African-American heterosexual adolescents, especially those residing in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities, are particularly vulnerable to experiencing violence (both witness and involvement in) [3]. National surveillance data indicate that, relative to the general United States adolescent population, African-American adolescents report similar (e.g., sexually active) or higher (e.g., early sexual debut) prevalence of sexual risk behaviors [4]; however, African-American adolescents residing in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities initiate sexual risk behaviors at relatively younger ages [5] and are disproportionately affected by sexual risk behavior-linked disease burden such as sexually transmitted infections, including HIV [6,7].
Source: Journal of Adolescent Health - Category: Child Development Authors: Tags: Editorial Source Type: research