Social Correlates of HIV-Risky Behaviours among African Canadian Adolescents Living in British Columbia, Canada: A Secondary Data Analysis.

Abstract

Studies have linked HIV-risky behaviours among young people to several socio-contextual factors. However, the social factors that might increase African Canadian adolescents' exposure to HIV-risky behaviours, including unprotected sex and forced or multiple-sexual partnerships, have received little or no attention in the literature. Using data from the British Columbia Adolescent Health Surveys (2003-2018) and guided by intersectionality and socio-ecological frameworks, we examined the social determinants of HIV-risky behaviours (HRB) among African Canadian adolescents in British Columbia. We observed a general decline in HRB from 2008 to 2018. However, more than half (54.5%) of the 1042 who were sexually experienced in 2018 reported having 2 or more sexual partners, and nearly half reported condom-less sex. Our results demonstrate an important need to evaluate the impacts of several social factors on health outcomes for a unique, marginalized population.