Sexual initiation with older male partners and subsequent HIV risk behavior among female adolescents

Data from a 1993-1994 survey of 150 black and Hispanic teenagers were used to examine differences in HIV risk-related behavior between young women who have a first sexual partner three or more years older than themselves and those whose first partner is their age. Compared with teenagers whose fir;st partner had been roughly their age, the 35% of adolescents with an older partner had been younger at first intercourse (13.8 years vs. 14.6) and less likely to use a condom at first intercourse (63% vs. 82%) They also were less likely to report having used a condom at last intercourse (29% vs. 44%) or having used condoms consistently over their lifetime (37% vs. 56%) or in the previous six months (44% vs. 66%). Some 38% of teenagers with an older first partner had ever been pregnant, compared with 12% of those with a peer-age first partner. The mean number of partners and history of sexually transmitted diseases did not differ between the two groups.