Latino emerging adults account for a significant proportion of incident HIV cases among emerging adults aged 18-24 in the United States, but have a lower prevalence of HIV testing compared to other racial/ethnic emerging adult groups. Yet, factors that influence HIV testing behaviors among Latino emerging adults are poorly understood. This dissertation examined sociocultural and psychological factors of HIV testing behaviors among a sample of 157 sexually active Latino emerging adults aged 18 to 25. Cross-sectional data from the Project on Health among Emerging Adult Latinos (Project HEAL) were used. Robust Poisson regressions were used to estimate adjusted prevalence ratios (aPRs) and hierarchical logistic regressions were used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (aORs) for HIV testing behaviors.
Findings indicated that 59.9% of participants reported lifetime history of HIV testing. Of those engaging in sexual risk behaviors, 62.8% reported lifetime history of HIV testing. Familism support was significantly associated with lifetime history of HIV testing (aPR= .81, 95% confidence interval [CI]: .68-.95). Nativity status but not gender moderated the association between familism support and lifetime history of HIV testing. Also, self-efficacy for HIV testing was significantly associated with lifetime history of HIV testing (aOR=3.49, 95% CI: 1.78-6.83), and this association was moderated by distress tolerance and sexual risk behaviors. Lastly, cognitive reappraisal was significantly associated with HIV testing intentions (aOR=1.44, 95%CI=1.04-1.99), and this association was moderated by gender.
Collectively, our findings highlight the significance of sociocultural and psychological factors that are associated with HIV testing behaviors and may have the potential to inform evidence-based prevention programs that promote HIV testing among Latino emerging adults. Future research should examine the direction of these potential casual associations to better inform HIV testing efforts.