Seminar paper from the year 2018 in the subject Health - Public Health, grade: 1, Egerton University, language: English, abstract: In retrospect, substance use and sexual activity are quite common amongst adolescents and young adults. As such, it is emerging that sexual health amongst adolescents and young adults is seemingly becoming a significance public health challenge. Owing to the high rates of risky sexual behavior and alcohol use amongst adolescents and young adults, extensive scientific inquiry has focused on investigating the consequences of these issues. Of concern has been the correlation between the co-occurrence of alcohol use and risky sexual behavior with the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS. It is also worth noting that alcohol use has a negative influence on protection against STDs because it impairs the use of protective barriers. Given that adolescents and young adults exhibit a high tendency of sexual risk taking, alcohol use exacerbates the issue of risky sexual behaviors in these groups. Morrison et al. claim that teenagers in the US “do not consistently protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) or unintended pregnancy”. This explains the magnitude of the problem. Therefore, this paper provides a comprehensive critical analysis on the correlation between alcohol use and risky sexual behaviors amongst the young adults and adolescents. It will also discuss the consequences associated with alcohol use and risky sexual behavior amongst these groups.

Alcohol use by young people is extremely dangerous - both to themselves and society at large. Underage alcohol use is associated with traffic fatalities, violence, unsafe sex, suicide, educational failure, and other problem behaviors that diminish the prospects of future success, as well as health risks â€" and the earlier teens start drinking, the greater the danger. Despite these serious concerns, the media continues to make drinking look attractive to youth, and it remains possible and even easy for teenagers to get access to alcohol. Why is this dangerous behavior so pervasive? What can be done to prevent it? What will work and who is responsible for making sure it happens? Reducing Underage Drinking addresses these questions and proposes a new way to combat underage alcohol use. It explores the ways in which may different individuals and groups contribute to the problem and how they can be enlisted to prevent it. Reducing Underage Drinking will serve as both a game plan and a call to arms for anyone with an investment in youth health and safety.

"The link between alcohol use and sexual behaviour has serious implications for the health of populations due to the advent of HIV infection. WHO coordinated a multi-country study to identify factors related to risky sexual behaviour among alcohol users in diverse cultural settings. The countries involved included: Belarus, India, Mexico, Kenya, Romania, the Russian Federation, South Africa and Zambia."--Back cover.

The problems of teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS and the high rates of other sexually transmitted diseases among youth have lead to widespread concern with the sexual behaviors of teenagers. Alcohol use is one of the most commonly cited correlates of risky sexual behavior. The purpose of this research is to investigate the causal role of alcohol in determining sexual activity and risky sexual behavior among teenagers and young adults. This research also addresses the question of whether there are public policies that can reduce the risky sexual behavior that results in harmful consequences. Individual and aggregate level data are used to investigate these questions. Results show that alcohol use appears to have no causal influence in determining whether or not a teenage has sex. However, alcohol use may lower contraception use among sexually active teens.

This purpose of this paper is to examine the causal impact of substance use on risky sexual behaviors by teenagers. Risky sexual behaviors, which include unprotected sex and multiple partners, are highly correlated with alcohol and illicit drug use, although the nature of the causal relationship is in question. This study uses two-stage least squares and reduced form models to examine the relationship between substance use and sexual behaviors by gender. Data come from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveys. Result show that alcohol use does not increase the likelihood of having sex or of having multiple partners, although alcohol use does lower the probability of using birth control and condoms among sexually active teens.

Gives a comprehensive view of youthful involvement with drinking, smoking, illicit drug use and sexual activity, providing a challenging assessment of health education for young people.