Partners and Protection: HIV Risk Trajectories among Young Men

Randy Capps, Urban Institute
Freya L. Sonenstein, Urban Institute
Jason Ost, Urban Institute
Gary J. Gates, Urban Institute

This paper traces HIV/AIDS risk behavior using data from the 1988, 1991 and 1995 National Survey of Adolescent Males (NSAM). We construct four clusters based on condom use, number of partners, partner concurrency and sex with risky partners. Two clusters are “low risk” on partnering measures, but differentiated on condom use. Two others are higher-risk: one with more partners and more months with concurrent partners on average, the second with more risky partners. In examining cluster membership across the three waves, most of the sample is persistently low risk. Membership in a high-risk cluster is associated with being African-American and living in an urban area. It is also associated with fewer worries about AIDS, conservative attitudes towards male role ideology, and liberal attitudes about premarital sex. Concerns about pregnancy and attitudes toward condom use do not appear to have significant association with membership in either of the two high-risk clusters.