Virology Research Journal

Individual and community level factors in the STD status of justice involved youth: Multi-group exploratory two-level analysis

2^nd World Conference on STDs, STIs & HIV/AIDS
May 18-19, 2018 | Montreal, Canada

Richard Dembo

University of South Florida, USA

Keynote : Virol Res J

Abstract:

Justice-involved youth display higher prevalence rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), in comparison to the general public, highlighting a critical public health concern. Individual factors are important predictors of STDs, but only provide a partial understanding of this public health issue. According to social disorganization theory communities experiencing higher levels of disorder and lower levels of cohesion tend to have fewer institutional resources available, which may impact sexual risk behavior and STDs. However, few studies have examined the association between community characteristics and STD prevalence among justice involved adolescents. Informed by social disorganization theory, the current study explores individuallevel attributes and community-level characteristics in explaining STDs among justice-involved youth. Results indicate a number of individual and community level factors, reflecting community disadvantage, significantly relate to delinquent youths’ STD status, with effects varying by gender. Findings suggest a gendered perspective is important for understanding individual-level characteristics affecting STD infection. Support is also found for a growing body of literature suggesting community factors affect adolescent sexual behavior. The justice system represents a critical opportunity in the treatment and prevention of STDs for youth

Biography:

Richard Dembo is a Professor of Criminology at the University of South Florida in Tampa. He received his PhD in Sociology from New York University. He has conducted extensive research on the relationship between drug use and delinquency; he has published three books and over 180 articles, book chapters and reports in the fields of criminology, substance use, mental health, and program evaluation; and has guest edited five special issues of journals addressing the problem of drug misuse. He is a member of the editorial boards of The International Journal of the Addictions (renamed Substance Use and Misuse), Violence, Aggression and Terrorism, The Journal of Drug Issues, The Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse, The Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, and Neurobehavioral HIV Medicine. He has served as a Consultant to the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Mental Health, the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, the Office of Substance Abuse Prevention and the National Science Foundation. He is a Reviewer of manuscripts for numerous professional journals.
Email: rdembo@usf.edu

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