The role of stress and absence: How household member incarceration is associated with risky sexual health behaviors.

Abstract

Sexual health is a critical indicator of wellbeing with consequences for population health. However, little is known about whether and how household member incarceration affects the sexual health behaviors of young adults. This study seeks to assess the association between household member incarceration and sexual health behaviors and provides an initial test of mechanisms. Drawing upon data from the NLSY97, this study estimates the association between household member incarceration and sexual health behaviors using linear probability models, and then re-estimates these associations using two alternative comparison groups; 1) youth who experienced other forms of stress, and 2) youth who experienced other forms of family absence. Results indicate that household incarceration is positively associated with a higher risk of reporting sexual intercourse with an intravenous drug user net of individual and family characteristics and is negatively associated with condom use net of individual but not family characteristics. The results also show that the associations between household member incarceration and sexual health behaviors may be attributable, at least in part, to the well documented stress associated with incarceration. Yet, the results provide little evidence that absence is a pathway linking household member incarceration to risky sexual health behaviors. It is possible that household member incarceration is linked to deleterious outcomes for youth through different mechanisms than parental incarceration given the differing roles of parents versus other adults in the home. Future research should explore the pathways linking household member incarceration to health risks for youth and consider household member incarceration as a unique family stressor.