University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Helen Bader School of Social Welfare, 2400 E. Hartford Avenue, 1165 Enderis Hall, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, USA.
Tulane University School of Social Work, 127 Elk Place, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA.
Child Abuse Negl. 2019 Feb;88:466-477. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.08.007. Epub 2018 Nov 9.
Adolescent sexual health is often reflected through a problem-oriented lens. This serves to reinforce prevailing sexual scripts and cultural images of disenfranchised youth. Very little is known about the support young people in foster care, particularly youth of color, need to stay sexually healthy and safe. This article presents data on the sources and types of sexual socialization experiences that supported African American transitional age youth in foster care to protect against sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Eighteen African American participants (18 to 21-years old) who reported condom use in two quantitative interviews were selected to participate in a qualitative interview. A mapping exercise and thematic analyses were used to identify the participants' sources of support and sexual socialization experiences. The study's findings indicated the youth had a combination of informal and formal sources that conveyed four types of STI/HIV prevention messages: Effective, Affective, Affinity, & Tangible. The majority of the participants (83%) received all four types of STI/HIV prevention messages from adult, partner and/or peer sources. Sources who motivated the participants the most to protect against STIs/HIV had a strong relationship with the youth and communicated openly about safer sex practices. Results of this study provide implications for future research as well as indications for practice that may be incorporated into training for child welfare practitioners, foster parents, kinship caregivers, and others who encounter youth in foster care.
青少年的性健康问题通常被视为一个以问题为导向的视角。这反映了当前盛行的性脚本和被剥夺权利的青年的文化形象。然而，对于寄养中的年轻人，特别是有色人种的年轻人，他们在保持性健康和安全方面所需要的支持，人们知之甚少。本文介绍了一些支持寄养中的非裔美国青少年预防性传播感染（STI）和人类免疫缺陷病毒（HIV）的性社会化经验的来源和类型的数据。在两项定量访谈中报告使用了安全套的 18 名非裔美国参与者（18 至 21 岁）被选中参加定性访谈。通过映射练习和主题分析，确定了参与者的支持来源和性社会化经验。研究结果表明，这些年轻人有多种非正式和正式的资源，传达了四种类型的 STI/HIV 预防信息：有效、情感、亲和和有形。大多数参与者（83%）从成人、伴侣和/或同龄人那里获得了所有四种类型的 STI/HIV 预防信息。那些最激励参与者预防 STIs/HIV 的人，与年轻人有着密切的关系，并就安全性行为进行了坦诚的沟通。这项研究的结果为未来的研究提供了启示，也为儿童福利工作者、寄养父母、亲属照顾者以及其他与寄养中的年轻人接触的人提供了实践指导。
