Family characteristics and sexual risk behaviors among black men in the United States. (Research Note).(Statistical Data Included)

Each year, there are approximately 12 million new cases of sexually transmitted disease (STD) in the United States. (1) STD prevalence is higher among blacks than among whites or Asians and Pacific Islanders--for some STDs, by as much as 30%. (2) In 2000, 15-19-year-old black males had a rate of gonorrhea that was about 20 times the rate of Native American or Hispanic males in the same age-group. (3) HIV infection also is more prevalent among black adolescent and adult males than among their white or Hispanic counterparts, (4) and nearly one-half of all AIDS cases reported in 2000 were among blacks; their AIDS prevalence was twice that of Hispanics and eight times that of whites. (5) Furthermore, in the United States, blacks are more likely than members of other races to have multiple partners, (6) and black youth initiate sexual activity earlier than do youth of other races; (7) these behaviors substantially increase an individual's exposure to STDs. (8)

If exposure to STDs is to be reduced among blacks, and particularly among black males, research efforts and prevention strategies must focus on factors that affect risk-taking behaviors in this population. During recent years, it has been increasingly recognized that sexuality-related behaviors in adolescence and adulthood are associated with characteristics of the family during an individual's childhood and early adolescence. (9) Therefore, this study examined the relationship between selected characteristics of the family of origin and risky sexual behaviors among a large, nationally representative sample of heterosexual black men.

INFLUENCES ON SEXUAL RISK BEHAVIORS

Socioeconomic and Cultural Characteristics

When investigating the reasons for racial differences in sexual risk-taking behaviors, it is helpful to examine factors that are directly connected with race (10) (and racism). These factors include a variety of socioeconomic and cultural variables, such as education, urbanization, income level, social norms, values and life goals.

Financial uncertainty and poor educational and career prospects may result in the delay of marriage among economically disadvantaged blacks. (11) Consequently, black youth may feel forced to seek nontraditional methods of achieving adult status, such as initiating sex. Living in neighborhoods that lack quality school systems and supervised recreation areas for youth also may lead to reduced marital expectations, as well as reduced academic aspirations and the inability of parents to provide adequate supervision. (12) However, several studies that controlled for factors such as neighborhood and income level found that race still has a significant effect on the age at voluntary sexual initiation and the number of partners. (13) Hence, factors other than poverty status may be salient in influencing sexual risk-taking behaviors among blacks.

Some of the effect that race has on adolescent sexual behavior may be explained by the differences in sexuality-related norms and values between blacks and members of other races. Black youth are less likely than youth of other races to engage in a "predictable series of noncoital behaviors for a period of time before their first intercourse experience," (14) and black adolescent males place a particularly high value on early sexual activity. (15) Blacks also are more tolerant of nonmarital sex and childbearing, and they consider marriage less important than other races. (16)

Family Characteristics

Evidence is growing that characteristics of an individual's family of origin can influence his or her sexual risk-taking behavior. For example, the educational level of an individual's parents-particularly of the mother (17)--influences the age at onset of sexual activity. Adolescents who postpone sexual intercourse have better-educated parents, have received more sexuality education from their parents, possess greater knowledge about sexuality and have higher aspirations than those who begin having sex before age 16. (18)

Level of parental supervision is another important familial consideration. Among low-income black children and adolescents, a low level of parental supervision provides the opportunity for precocious sexual activity. (19) Parental supervision can decrease after a divorce (20)--both because of the reduction in the number of parents in the household and because of the custodial parent's need to work full-time. (21) Boys whose mothers spend many hours at work while they are growing up are likely to begin having sex early. (22)

Findings from studies relating the number of parents in the household to the child's age at sexual initiation are unequivocal: Being raised by a single parent--particularly by a single mother (23)--is associated with early onset of sexual activity, (24) whereas living in a two-parent family is associated with delayed onset. (25) A British study found that males from single-parent families were 50% more likely than those from two-parent families to have initiated sexual activity before the age of 17, and the average age at first sex was two years higher for young men who were raised in a two-parent household than for those whose parents were divorced. (26) Living in a single-parent household predicts sexual debut even when other important variables, such as child's religiosity, child's age and family's socioeconomic status, are taken into account. (27)

Very little information, however, is available regarding the relationship between family structure and sexual risk-taking later in life, and black males are not represented in the few studies that do address this issue. In a study of a small, homogeneous sample of white females younger than 22, those whose parents were divorced reported both an earlier age at sexual initiation and more sexual partners six years later than did those living with both parents. (28) Among unmarried black women, factors present in early life-living in a two-parent family at age 14 and early age at first intercourse-predict multiple sexual partners in adulthood. (29) (Reasons for the unexpected relationship with living in two-parent households are unclear.)

Individual Characteristics

An individual's educational level predicts the lifetime number of sexual partners and is, in turn, affected by his or her mother's educational…