Sexual risk behaviors in adolescents in the child welfare system: A systematic review.
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Abstract
The sexual health of adolescents and youth is often viewed through a lens that focuses on the problems. For adolescents in the child welfare system this risk-focused analysis is even greater, as they experience higher rates of negative sexual health outcomes. The present review aims to examine the literature related to sexual risk behaviors of adolescents and young people in the child welfare system. For this purpose, several databases (Web of Science, Scopus and PUBMED) were consulted, restricting the search to the keywords “sexual behavior” or “sexual risk” and “child welfare system” or “foster youth”, and the publication range between 2011 and 2021. Of the 1496 publications initially identified, those that were duplicated and/or did not meet the inclusion criteria were eliminated, leaving us with a total of 22 articles. Half of the publications analyzing behaviors predictive of sexual risk behaviors focused on childhood sexual abuse experiences. On the other hand, 22.73% of the articles analyzed reported poor condom use among youth in foster care, while 18.18% stated that this group has a higher prevalence of STIs and 31.82% reported that pregnancy rates are higher among girls in this population. Likewise, 18.18% of the studies analyzed found evidence of a possible relationship between participation in the child welfare system and transactional sex activities. Thus, although research on this topic remains scarce, this review highlights the risk of developing unhealthy patterns of sexuality among youth in the child welfare system.
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