Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Receipt of Sexual Health Care and Education Among A Nationally Representative Sample of Adolescent Females

Objective(s) The USA has a high rate of adolescent pregnancy, with non-Hispanic (NH) Black and Hispanic women disproportionately affected. We sought to investigate the presence of racial/ethnic disparities in the receipt of sexual health (SRH) care and education and whether such disparities contribute to differences in sexual health outcomes for youth. Study Design We conducted a cross-sectional study of females aged 15-21 years who participated in the National Survey of Family Growth from 2008 to 2015. Multivariable logistic regression was used to measure the association between race/ethnicity and SRH outcomes after adjustment for potential confounders. Models were developed to measure whether receipt of SRH care and education served as an effect modifier on SRH outcomes. Results The sample included 4316 participants, representing 33.5 million females. Almost half (47.2%) received birth control services in the last 12 months; NH-Blacks (aOR 0.7 [0.5, 0.9]) and Hispanics (aOR 0.6 [0.5, 0.8]) were less likely to have obtained birth control services than NH-whites. Hispanics (aOR 1.5 [1.2, 1.9]) had a higher likelihood of receipt of condom education than NH-whites. We found that disparities in SRH outcomes were slightly mitigated after adjustment for access to SRH care and education. Conclusions We identified racial/ethnic disparities in sexual health outcomes and in SRH and education; however, SRH care and education can mitigate some of these differences in sexual behaviors and outcomes. Racial/ethnic differences in sexual health outcomes may be at least partially related to the differential receipt of sexual health care and education and deserve further investigation.