Correlates of Cumulative Sexual Risk Behaviors among African American Youth Living in Public Housing.

African American youth and especially those who reside in public housing report high rates of sexually transmitted disease (STI) risk behaviors; however, too few studies have examined the correlates of cumulative sexual risk behaviors among this population. This study recruited 298 youth ages 11 to 21 and examined to what degree factors such as age, gender, self-efficacy, substance use, negative peer norms, and delinquency were correlated with cumulative sexual risk behaviors. Major findings indicated that gender, substance use, self-efficacy, and involvement with delinquent peer networks were independent correlates of cumulative sexual risk behaviors, with gender and self-efficacy being the strongest of these factors. Collectively, these findings suggest that gendered approaches to sexual risk reduction among this population are warranted with special content and attention focused on substance abuse risk reduction, improving self-efficacy and managing negative peer influences.