Visits to Alcohol Outlets, Sexual Risk Behavior, and HSV-2 Infection among Female Adolescents in South Africa

Molly S. Rosenberg, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Annelies Van Rie, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Harsha Thirumurthy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Michael Emch, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Audrey Pettifor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Alcohol consumption has a disinhibiting effect that makes sexual risk outcomes more likely. The characteristics of alcohol-serving outlets may further encourage risky sexual activity. In a sample of 2,533 female adolescents in rural South Africa, we performed a cross-sectional analysis to examine the association between alcohol outlet visits and four sexual risk outcomes: number of sex partners, unprotected sex acts, transactional sex, and HSV-2 infection. Visiting alcohol outlets was associated with having more sex partners (aOR (95% CI): 1.51 (1.21, 1.88)], more unprotected sex acts [aOR (95% CI): 2.28 (1.52, 3.42)], higher levels of transactional sex [[aOR (95% CI): 1.63 (1.03, 2.59)] and HSV-2 infection [aOR (95% CI): 1.30 (0.88, 1.91)]. In the presence of alcohol consumption, visits to alcohol outlets were more strongly associated with all outcomes. Preventive interventions targeted at alcohol outlets may effectively reach young women at high risk for negative sexual risk outcomes.