Can a Multilevel STI/HIV Prevention Strategy for High Risk African American Adolescents Improve Life Satisfaction?

• Published in: Journal of happiness studies 2020-02, Vol.21 (2), p.417-436
• Main Authors: Zullig, Keith J., Valois, Robert F., Hobbs, Gerald R., Kerr, Jelani C., Romer, Daniel, Carey, Michael P., Brown, Larry K., DiClemente, Ralph J., Vanable, Peter A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescents; African Americans; Disease prevention; Economics; Evaluation; HIV; Human immunodeficiency virus; Intervention; Life satisfaction; Mass media; Personality and Social Psychology; Philosophy; Positive Psychology; Prevention; Quality of Life Research; Recruitment; Research Paper; Risk behavior; Sexually transmitted diseases; Social Sciences; STD; Strategies; Variance analysis; Well being
• ISSN: 1389-4978; 1573-7780
• DOI: 10.1007/s10902-019-00084-z

Addressing adolescent sexual risk behaviors in the STI/HIV prevention literature is well documented; however, impacts from interventions on life satisfaction are relatively unexplored. This study examined data (n = 1658) from a randomized, multi-site, multi-level STI/HIV prevention intervention trial (Project iMPAACS) to determine whether increased protective and reduced sexual risk-taking behaviors associated with STI/HIV would also improve self-reported life satisfaction. Taking into account the nested study design and controlling for confounders, a mixed model ANOVA was performed where Total mean life satisfaction scores were analyzed at baseline and 3, 6, 12, and 18 months post-recruitment. Significance levels of 0.05 were used to determine significance and η 2 was used to assess effect size. We hypothesized that as intervention participants engaged in the intentional activity associated with increasing protective behaviors and reducing sexual risk-taking behaviors associated with STI/HIV, life satisfaction reports would also improve over the course of the intervention. A significant main effect for sex was detected ( F  = 5.19, p  = .02, η 2  = .03), along with three interactions: between experimental condition and media intervention ( F  = 7.96, p  = .005, η 2 = .04); experimental condition, sex, and media intervention ( F  = 6.51, p  = .01, η 2  = .04); and experimental condition, sex, assessment point, and media intervention ( F  = 3.23, p  = .01, η 2  = .02). With the exception of the control condition, female life satisfaction reports improved from baseline assessments to 18-months post-recruitment, whereas male reports decreased. Project iMPPACS was not designed with the intent on improving participants’ life satisfaction. However, study results suggest incorporating strategies to address subjective well-being into future adolescent STI/HIV risk-reduction interventions is beneficial for females and additional research is necessary for males.