African American youth are disproportionately affected by STDs, including HIV. Empirical evidence suggests that distinct aspects of parent, peer, and sexual partner relationships are important influences on adolescent sexual risk taking. Research has consistently shown that adolescents who report involved parenting (including a high quality relationship and supervision) are significantly less likely to engage in sexual risk taking (DiClemente et al., 2001; Henrich, Brookmeyer, Shrier, & Shahar, 2006; Huebner & Howell, 2003; Li, Stanton, & Feigelman, 2000; Rodgers, 1999; Stanton et al., 2002; Sturdivant, 2007), while adolescents with risky friends are considerably more likely to be risky themselves (Bearman & Bruckner, 1999; Lyons, 2009; Miller, Forehand, & Kotchick, 2000; Rai et al., 2003; Romer, Black, Ricardo, Feigelman, & et al., 1994). Additionally, some research has found that the level of risk of a person's sexual partner(s) is more predictive of negative sexual health outcomes than his or her own previous behavior (Staras, Cook, & Clark, 2009). However, research has not yet examined whether involved parenting can protect youth who have sexually risky peers and/or sexually risky partners from sexual risk taking (i.e., lack of condom use). This study sought to determine whether involved parenting was a significant buffer against high risk sex for adolescents whose peers were sexually risky and whether involved parenting was a significant buffer against high risk sex for adolescents whose partners were sexually risky. It also sought to determine whether gender moderated the relationship between (1) peer sexual risk and sexual risk taking and (2) partner sexual risk and risk taking. This study used data drawn from the Bayview Network Study (BNS), a longitudinal study conducted in San Francisco, CA from 2000-2002. Recruitment for the BNS was a combination of population-based random sampling and snowball sampling of friends and sexual partners. Youth were considered eligible if they identified as African American, were between the ages of 14-19, and lived in the Bayview area. Data from 2 waves (12 months apart from one another) were analyzed. Structural equation modeling was used to examine a conceptual model of parent, peer, and partner influences on sexual risk taking and STD diagnosis. Data from 199 index participants and their social friends were analyzed.Results showed that more than half of the youth reported inconsistent use of condoms within the last 3 months at both waves. Additionally, 18% of the sample either reported a past STD or had a positive result on the STD test that they took as part of the study. Structural equation modeling analyses demonstrated that involved parenting did not have the predicted effect on sexual risk taking in this sample of youth. However, (1) increased peer risk approached significance in predicting decreased condom use behaviors and (2) riskier partners were a significant predictor of sexual risk taking. Moderated analyses of the effects of involved parenting on the relationship between peer risk and condom use showed that involved parenting did not buffer the impact of sexually risky peers on decreased condom use. Similarly, moderated analyses of involved parenting on the relationship between sexually risky partners and condom use showed that involved parenting was not protective against sexual risk taking. Finally, gender was not a significant moderator of the effects of any of the aforementioned relationships. Study results suggest that although involved parenting was not an effective protective factor for high risk sex in this population, peers and partners may be important points of intervention in preventing sexual risk behaviors in African American adolescents.
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