Amsterdam 2015
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| Abstract #2022 - Teen spirit: Adolescents and HIV | ||||
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Session: 46.1: Teen spirit: Adolescents and HIV (Parallel) on Friday @ 09.00-10.30 in C104 Chaired by Tonya Thurman, John Miller Authors: Presenting Author: Mr. Pum Kommattam - University of Amsterdam, Netherlands |
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| Additional Authors: | ||||
| Aim: Young men who have sex with men are one of the most vulnerable groups for HIV/STI infections. Knowledge regarding sexual risk taking among teenage MSM is therefore crucial for tailor-made HIV/STI prevention in order to reduce health risks. | ||||
| Method / Issue: Existing knowledge on this population is oftentimes limited by a focus on (young) adult samples and mere assessment of sexual behavior. Since underlying motives for sexual behavior, such as the need for intimacy or developmental goals, are a driving factor for sexual risk behavior we therefore qualitatively explored sexual motives of same sex attracted (SSA) teenagers and assessed HIV/STI prevention needs and communication channels within this population. | ||||
| Results / Comments: Based on semi-structured interviews with 32 SSA males (range 16 – 19) we found that the preferred motive of sexual behavior among SSA boys was love, while lust was the predominating motive in order to gain experience. Safe sex goals were usually limited to anal intercourse and were reduced by stigmata on same sex sexuality, prematurely trusted sexual partners, or unsafe sexual norms from the gay scene. If boys were embedded in a social network that included peers and parents who endorse full safe sex norms, this served as a protective shield against unwanted sexual contacts and facilitated communication and practice of safe sex. Social media is the preferred channel of communication for (safe) sex education messages for SSA teenagers. Furthermore, they are in need of more information on what happens during a consult in order to overcome fears of being examined intimately. | ||||
| Discussion: Our results offer novel insights into relevant content, procedure and communication channels of (safe) sex education of SSA teenagers: Privacy and in depth information should go hand in hand for a target group that is otherwise missed by gay identity/community communication strategies. | ||||
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