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Chapter 6:
Detailed Characterization of the Youth Enrolled
in the Adolescent SPNS Projects
This chapter describes a profile of the individuals in the SPNS projects. Of the clients enrolled, a subsample was interviewed by the sites using a detailed psychosocial measure. The Measurement Group and the sites developed this Brief Natural History Interview through a consensus process. The Brief Natural History Interview is typically administered after the client has been formally enrolled in services, and rapport has been established between the client and program staff.
Table 6-1 below summarizes the number of clients with Brief Natural History Interviews received at the Measurement Group as of March 31, 1996.
Table 6-1
Natural History Interviews Received as of March 31, 1996
| Project | Number of Interviews |
| Bay Area Young Positives | 33 |
| Children’s Hospital of Boston | 7 |
| Childrens Hospital Los Angeles | 52 |
| Greater Bridgeport Adolescent Pregnancy Project | 58 |
| Health Initiatives for Youth | 0 |
| State of Indiana | 81 |
| University of Alabama, Birmingham | 53 |
| University of Minnesota | 14 |
| Walden House, Inc. | 14 |
| YouthCare, Inc. | 2 |
| Total | 314 |
The Brief Natural History Interview consists of 15 sections, each focused on a specific topic. Out of the 15 sections, five sections were designated as required for all data collection sites. The remaining 10 sections could be optionally administered based on the decision of each adolescent SPNS project.
Table 6-2 summarizes the design of the Brief Natural History Interview and describes the content for each of the 15 sections, the project sites administering each section of the Brief Natural History Interview, and the total number of respondents for each section of the interview.6
Table 6-2
Brief Natural History Interview Sections
| Section Number/Title | Brief Description and Contents |
Sites that Contributed to Data for this Section |
Total Number of Respondents |
| I. Background Information | Required section; Includes ethnicity, educational level, marital status, whether lives with family, housing status, sexual orientation. | Alabama, Boston, Bridgeport, Indiana, Los Angeles, Minnesota, San Francisco: BAY Positives, San Francisco: Walden House, Seattle | 314 |
| II. Work and Income | Required section; Includes employment status, sources of income, income level, health insurance. | Alabama, Boston, Bridgeport, Indiana, Los Angeles, Minnesota, San Francisco: BAY Positives, San Francisco: Walden House, Seattle | 314 |
| IIIa. Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (20 items) | Optional section; 20-item measure of psychological distress in the past week. | Bridgeport, San Francisco: BAY Positives, Seattle | 93 |
| IIIb. Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (8 items) | Optional section; Abbreviated 8-item measure of psychological distress in the past week. | Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco: Walden House, Seattle | 73 |
| IV. Service Utilization | Required section; Services needed and received in the past six months. | Alabama, Boston, Bridgeport, Indiana, Los Angeles, Minnesota, San Francisco: BAY Positives, San Francisco: Walden House, Seattle | 313 |
| V. Social Support | Optional section; Network of friends, romantic relationships. | Boston, Bridgeport, Minnesota, San Francisco: BAY Positives, San Francisco: Walden House, Seattle | 127 |
| VI. Personal History | Required section; HIV testing history and history of involvement in foster care. | Alabama, Boston, Bridgeport, Indiana, Los Angeles, Minnesota, San Francisco: BAY Positives, San Francisco: Walden House, Seattle | 314 |
| VII. Personal History II | Optional section; History of involvement with substance abuse treatment, criminal justice system, mental health services. | Bridgeport, Indiana, Minnesota, San Francisco: Walden House, Seattle | 169 |
| VIII. Drug Use | Optional section; Use of alcohol and other drugs in lifetime, past six months, past 30 days, injection drug use. | Boston, Bridgeport, Indiana, Los Angeles, Minnesota, San Francisco: BAY Positives, San Francisco: Walden House, Seattle | 261 |
| IX. Sexual Activity | Optional section; Sexual behaviors reported in lifetime, past six months, including vaginal, oral, and anal sex, unprotected sexual behaviors, number of partners, survival sex. | Boston, Bridgeport, Indiana, Los Angeles, San Francisco: BAY Positives, San Francisco: Walden House, Seattle | 247 |
| X. Sexual History II | Optional section; history of sexual and physical abuse. | Boston, Bridgeport, Indiana, San Francisco: BAY Positives, Seattle | 181 |
| XI. Medical History | Required section; Rating of health, history of HIV and other health problems and symptoms, use of prophylactic medications, reproductive health of females. | Alabama, Boston, Bridgeport, Indiana, Los Angeles, Minnesota, San Francisco: BAY Positives, San Francisco: Walden House, Seattle | 311 |
| XII. Health II | Optional section; History of mental health and other psychosocial issues. | Boston, Bridgeport, Indiana, San Francisco: BAY Positives, San Francisco: Walden House, Seattle | 194 |
| XIII. HIV Knowledge | Optional section; 21 true-false questions about HIV. | Boston, Bridgeport, Indiana, San Francisco: BAY Positives, San Francisco: Walden House, Seattle | 195 |
| XIV. Attention Problems | Optional section; 18 items rating distractibility and restlessness. | Boston, Bridgeport, San Francisco: BAY Positives, San Francisco: Walden House, Seattle | 114 |
| XV. Self-esteem | Optional section; 10-item Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale. | Alabama, Boston, Bridgeport, Indiana, Los Angeles, Minnesota, San Francisco: BAY Positives, San Francisco: Walden House, Seattle | 195 |
Background Information
The following section graphically presents the major descriptive trends in Brief
Natural History Interview data. The first set of figures shows trends for the general
background information and current living situations of the young adults interviewed (e.g.
gender, age, ethnicity).
The figure below displays the gender distribution of the clients who were administered the Brief Natural History Interview.
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Figure 6-1. Gender of clients (N=153 males, N=161 females).
Slightly more females than males were administered the Brief Natural History Interviews at all of the adolescent SPNS sites.
Figure 6-2 shows the age distribution of males and females who were administered the Brief Natural History Interview.7
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Figure 6-2. Age distribution of respondents (N=153 males, N=161 females).8
The mean age for males was 19.8 years (standard deviation=3.3 years). The mean age for females was 18.2 years (standard deviation=2.4 years). The age difference between males and females is not statistically significant (t=4.77, p<.001).
Figure 6-3 shows the ethnicity of the interviewed clients.
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Figure 6-3. Ethnicity of clients (N=153 males, N=161 females).
About three out of 10 males and two out of five females who were administered the Brief Natural History Interview stated that they were African American.
Approximately two out of five males and three out of 10 females who participated in the Brief Natural History Interview identified themselves as Caucasian.
Less than a quarter of the contacts identified themselves as Latino/a.
In Figure 6-4, the current educational status of the youth is shown. Note that more than one answer is possible, and that the percentages will total to more than 100 percent.
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Figure 6-4. Current educational status (N=153 males, N=161 females).
Approximately half of the males said they were not in school, whereas more than a third of the females stated that they were not in school.
About two out of five respondents stated that they were in school.
Less than one out of 10 males and one out of five females reported that they were working on a GED.
In Figure 6-5, the highest educational level completed by the clients is summarized.
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Figure 6-5. Highest grade completed (N=153 males, N=161 females).
The grade distribution in this sample of young adults shows a wide distribution across all levels up to graduation from college.
Figure 6-6 summarizes the marital status of the youth interviewed.
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Figure 6-6. Marital status (N=153 males, N=161 females).
Nearly all clients were single.
Figure 6-7 shows the percentage of youth who were living with their families at the time of the interview.
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Figure 6-7. Clients currently living with their families (N=153 males, N=161 females).
Approximately half of the respondents reported that they were currently living with their family.
Figure 6-8 summarizes the percentage of clients who indicated they had ever left home (or run away) for at least two days because they had been asked to leave or had run away.
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Figure 6-8. Clients who have left their families for at least two days (N=153 males, N=161 females).
Approximately two out of five respondents reported that they left home because they had been asked to leave their families for more than two days.
Of the individuals who have left their families, there are a number of different reasons for having done so. Reasons given by the youth for whom this applies are summarized in Figure 6-9.
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Figure 6-9. Of those who left their families for more than two days, reported reasons for leaving (N=66 males, N=63 females).
Among youth who indicated that they left their families for more than two days, about three-quarters of the males and more than half of the females reported they left home because they were unhappy.
About two-thirds of the youth reported that the reason they left home for more than two days was that they had problems with their parents.
Less than half of the males and about a third of the females indicated that they left their families because they were abused verbally.
A much larger proportion of males than females reported going to school or taking a job, experiencing trouble with the law, or experiencing violence between adults in the family as a reason for leaving.
6 It is important to study variables of this interview in relationship to the age of the respondent. Volume IV of this series ("Technical Appendix to Accompany Analyses of Ten Adolescent-Targeted Projects for HIV/AIDS Services") provides a set of age trend analyses for these behaviors and other indicators mentioned throughout this chapter.
7 It is important to study the variables from this interview in relation to the age of the respondent. Volume IV of this series ("Technical Appendix to Accompany Analyses of Ten Adolescent-Targeted Projects for HIV/AIDS Services") provides a set of age trend analyses for these behaviors and other indicators mentioned throughout this chapter.
8 Note that age is unknown for 11 males and 8 females on the Brief Natural History Interview.
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