HIV Risk Perceptions and First Sexual Intercourse among Youth in Cape Town, South Africa

• Published in: International family planning perspectives 2007-09, Vol.33 (3), p.98-105
• Main Authors: Anderson, Kermyt G., Beutel, Ann M., Maughan-Brown, Brendan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; Adolescent; Adolescents; Adult; African Continental Ancestry Group; AIDS; AIDS (Disease); AIDS research; Attitude to Health; Behavior; Cape Town South Africa; Children & youth; Coitus; Condoms; Demographic aspects; European Continental Ancestry Group; Female; Gender; Health aspects; Health risk assessment; HIV; HIV infection; HIV Infections; Human immunodeficiency virus; Human sexual behavior; Humans; Infections; Interviews as Topic; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Mating behavior; Perceptions; Risk; Risk Assessment; Risk behaviour; Risk factors; Risk perception; Sex; Sexual behavior; Sexual behaviour; Sexual intercourse; Social problems and social policy. Social work; Sociology; Sociology of health and medicine; South Africa; Stigma; Teenagers; White people; Womens studies; Young people; Youth
• ISSN: 0190-3187; 1944-0391; 1943-4154; 1944-0405
• DOI: 10.1363/3309807

Context: HIV prevalence is high among South African youth. Health behavior models posit that the perceived level of risk of HIV infection is associated with the level of HIV risk behavior; however, there has been limited research in Sub-Saharan Africa on factors associated with perceived risk or on the relationship between perceived risk and risk behaviors. Methods: Longitudinal data collected in 2002 and 2005 from 3,017 black, colored and white youth in Cape Town, South Africa, were analyzed using multivariate regression to examine whether a reciprocal relationship exists between sexual experience and perceived HIV risk. Independent variables taken from the 2002 survey were used to predict dependent variables taken from the 2005 survey. Results: In 2005, most youth (82% of males and 83% of females) viewed themselves as being at no or small risk of HIV infection. A reciprocal relationship in which higher perceived HIV risk was associated with a delay in sexual debut (odds ratio, 0.8) and sexual experience was associated with higher perceived risk (1.4) was found for females, but not for males. Knowing someone who had died of AIDS was associated with sexual debut and with an elevated perceived HIV risk among females (1.7 and 1.3, respectively). The associations between race and perceived risk of HIV infection varied by gender. Conclusions: HIV/AIDS education and prevention programs should consider more carefully how gender and race may intersect to influence risk perceptions and risk behaviors. In addition, possible reciprocal relationships between risk behaviors and risk perceptions should be considered in education and intervention programs. /// Contexto: La prevalecia, de VIH es alta entre la gente joven sudafricana. Los modelos de conducta relativos a la salud proponen que el nivel percibido de riesgo de infección por VIH está asociado con el nivel de conductas sexuales de riesgo; sin embargo, es limitada la investigación que se ha realizado en África subsahariana sobre factores asociados con el riesgo percibido, o sobre la relación entre riesgo percibido y conductas de riesgo. Métodos: Se analizó un conjunto de datos longitudinales recolectados en 2002 y 2005 respecto a 3,017 jóvenes de raza negra, mestiza (población de origen indio, chino y otros) y blanca en Ciudad del Cabo, Sudáfrica, utilizando regresión multivaria-da para examinar si existía una relación recíproca entre la experiencia sexual y el riesgo percibido de VIH. Algunas variables independ