Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Sexual Practices And Attitudes Of Street Youth In Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Marcela Raffaelli, Regina Campos, Alice Payne Merritt, Eliana Siqueira, Carlos Mauricio Antunes, Richard Parker, Marilia Greco, Dirceu Greco, Neal Halsey, Elizabeth Bolt, Mauro Lucio Jeronymo, Carl Kendall, Zelia Ottoni, Jorge Andrade Pinto, Jon Rolf, Andrea Ruff, Walter Ude, Barbara De Zalduondo

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Street youth are at risk of HIV infection worldwide. To develop effective prevention strategies, information about the meanings and functions of sexual activity for street youth is needed. In this paper, data from structured questionnaires, focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and field observations are used to build up a picture of the sexual culture of 9-to-18-year-olds living and/or working on the streets of a large Brazilian city. The findings reveal that these children and adolescents engage in sexual behavior that puts them at risk of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, and reinforce that sex is a multi-determined and entrenched behavior …