Concurrent partnerships among adolescents in a Latino community: the Mission District of San Francisco, California

OBJECTIVES: Latino adolescents in the United States are disproportionately affected by sexually transmitted infections, yet knowledge of their sexual networks, particularly concurrent sex partners, is limited. GOAL: The goal of this study was to describe the prevalence, patterns, and correlates of sexual concurrency among adolescents in an urban neighborhood. STUDY DESIGN: The authors conducted cross-sectional analyses of 368 sexually active youth recruited from public venues within a predominantly Latino neighborhood in San Francisco, California. RESULTS: During the prior 6 months, 20% of sexually experienced youth had concurrent partnerships, but this was more likely among males (27%) as females (12%) (odds ratio = 2.6; 95% confidence interval = 1.5-4.5). Sexually transmitted infection prevalence was too low to examine its association with concurrency. Factors that increased the likelihood of concurrency among males included: immigrant generation and being below grade level; and among females: older age and use of illegal substances. CONCLUSIONS: Ample opportunities to transmit sexually transmitted infections through concurrency were present, yet very few adolescents were infected, perhaps owing to adequate condom use within a neighborhood with low sexually transmitted infection prevalence