Abstract
Justice-involved youth have a number of risk factors for HIV infection, including high rates of substance use, psychiatric comorbidities, and risky sexual behaviors. Although detained youth are likely to receive health care—which may include HIV testing—court-involved, non-incarcerated (CINI) youth may be unlikely to receive HIV testing services either before or during their justice involvement. However, the relationship between risk factors and HIV testing among CINI youth is largely unknown. We explored the association between HIV testing and factors commonly associated with both HIV testing and HIV risk among 173 CINI youth with identified behaviors that put them at risk for HIV acquisition. Only 15.6% of participants reported a lifetime history of HIV testing, despite high rates of sexual and substance use risk behaviors. Age (older), gender (female), sexual orientation (non-heterosexual), recent marijuana use, lifetime use of other drugs, history of a sexually transmitted infection, pap smear in the past year and history of mental health/substance use treatment were all significantly associated with lifetime HIV testing. The extremely low testing rates in this sample emphasize that the juvenile justice system outside of detention is not adequately addressing youths’ needs related to HIV testing or ensuring access to testing services for youth at risk of contracting HIV. Results suggest that additional efforts are needed to connect justice-involved youth to healthcare more broadly and HIV testing in particular.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Tolou-Shams M, Harrison A, Hirschtritt ME, Dauria E, Barr-Walker J. Substance use and HIV among justice-involved youth: intersecting risks. Curr HIV/AIDS Rep. 2019;16(1):37–47.
Tolou-Shams M, Conrad S, Louis A, Shuford SH, Brown LK. HIV testing among non-incarcerated substance-abusing juvenile offenders. Int J Adolesc Med Health. 2015;27(4):467–9.
Donenberg GR, Emerson E, Mackesy-Amiti ME, Udell W. HIV-risk reduction with juvenile offenders on probation. J Child Fam Stud. 2015;24(6):1672–84.
Puzzanchera C, Robson C. Delinquency cases in juvenile court, 2010. Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; 2014.
Van Handel M, Kann L, Olsen EOM, Dietz P. HIV testing among US high school students and young adults. Pediatrics. 2016;137(2):e20152700.
Swenson RR, Hadley WS, Houck CD, Dance SK, Brown LK. Who accepts a rapid HIV antibody test? The role of race/ethnicity and HIV risk behavior among community adolescents. J Adolesc Health. 2011;48(5):527–9.
Straub DM, Arrington-Sanders R, Harris DR, et al. Correlates of HIV testing history among urban youth recruited through venue-based testing in 15 US cities. Sex Transm Dis. 2011;38(8):691–6.
Tolou-Shams M, Dauria E, Conrad SM, Kemp K, Johnson S, Brown LK. Outcomes of a family-based HIV prevention intervention for substance using juvenile offenders. J Subst Abuse Treat. 2017;77:115–25.
Baker SA, Thalberg SP, Morrison DM. Parents' behavioral norms as predictors of adolescent sexual activity and contraceptive use. Adolescence. 1988;23(90):265–82.
Hadley W, Hunter HL, Tolou-Shams M, Lescano C, Thompson A, Donenberg G. Monitoring challenges: a closer look at parental monitoring, maternal psychopathology, and adolescent sexual risk. J Fam Psychol. 2011;25(2):319–23.
Dutra R, Miller KS, Forehand R. The process and content of sexual communication with adolescents in two-parent families: associations with sexual risk-taking behavior. AIDS Behav. 1999;3(1):59–66.
Belenko S, Dembo R, Weiland D, et al. Recently arrested adolescents are at high risk for sexually transmitted diseases. Sex Transm Dis. 2008;35(8):758–63.
Belenko S, Dembo R, Rollie M, Childs K, Salvatore C. Detecting, preventing, and treating sexually transmitted diseases among adolescent arrestees: an unmet public health need. Am J Public Health. 2009;99(6):1032–41.
Tolou-Shams M, Brown LK, Marshall BDL, et al. The behavioral health needs of first-time offending justice-involved youth: substance use, sexual risk, and mental health. J Child and Adolesc Subst Abuse. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1080/1067828X.2020.1774023.
Donenberg GR, Emerson E, Bryant FB, Wilson H, Weber-Shifrin E. Understanding AIDS-risk behavior among adolescents in psychiatric care: links to psychopathology and peer relationships. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2001;40(6):642–53.
Greenberger E, Bond L. Technical manual for the psychosocial maturity inventory. Program in Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine; 1976.
Brown LK, DiClemente RJ, Beausoleil NI. Comparison of HIV-related knowledge, attitudes, intentions and behaviors among sexually active and abstinent young adolescents. J Adolesc Health. 1992;13:140–5.
Prochaska JO, Velicer WF, Rossi JS, et al. Stages of change and decisional balance for 12 problem behaviors. Health Psychol. 1994;13(1):39–46.
Faul F, Erdfelder E, Lang AG, Buchner A. G*Power 3: a flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behav Res Methods. 2007;39:175–91.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (5R01DA034538-06, PI: Tolou-Shams and K24DA046569, PI: Tolou-Shams) and the Health Services Research Administration (G02HP27926, PI: McQuaid). The views expressed herein are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the National Institute on Drug Abuse or the Health Services Research Administration. The authors extend their gratitude to the adolescents and families who participated in this study, to Yu (Seashore) Li (Brown University School of Public Health) for assistance with data management, and to Erika Diaz Ortiz (John Jay College of Criminal Justice) for review of extant literature.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors report no financial conflicts of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Haney-Caron, E., Brown, L.K. & Tolou-Shams, M. Brief Report: HIV Testing and Risk Among Justice-Involved Youth. AIDS Behav 25, 1405–1410 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-020-02978-z
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-020-02978-z