Influence of Race and Gender on Condom Use in High School Students in the Southern States of the United States

Southern adolescents are among the most affected groups in the United States (US) for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections. The prevalence of unprotected sex is higher in white adolescents compared to minority adolescents despite racial disparities of HIV infection in the US. In addition, females are at an increased risk for unprotected sex compared to males. The objective of this study was to evaluate condom use is US high school (HS) students in southern states. Weighted data were obtained from the 2011 and 2013 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (N=28,793). Condom use was defined as respondents using a condom at last sexual intercourse. Descriptive statistics, chi-squared analyses, simple, and multiple logistic regression were used to examine the influence of race and gender on condom use among southern HS students using SAS software. Bivariate analyses illustrates that compared to white females, minority males were more likely to use condoms (OR-1.79; CI-1.66-1.92). Multivariate analyses show that compared to white females, minority males and white males were more likely to use condoms (OR-2.04; CI-1.87-2.23, OR-1.74; CI-1.61-1.87, respectively). In addition, students who had a body weight perception of “overweight” (OR-2.23; CI-2.08-2.38) increased the odds of condom use compared to body weight perception of "about the right weight". Gender and race along with psychosocial factors were associated with condom use in HS students in the southern states. These results can be utilized to target HIV prevention activities to key affected populations.