Mapping HIV risk trajectories from adolescence to young adulthood: a life-course study among unmarried urban Indian youth

The study explores trajectories of HIV risks from adolescence to adulthood among unmarried, educated (12+ years of formal education), 20-29 year old youth. Retrospective time event data (n=517) was used to build HIV risk trajectories (age 10 onwards), employing group-based trajectory technique and multinomial logistic regression in SAS v9.4. Among men (n=271), 10% had "Declining risk - high to low", and 15% had "consistent high risk". Among women (n=246), 11% had "late-rising risk", and 15% had "consistent high risk". Among women, childhood experience of sexual abuse, having self-income, father education until 12th standard, frequent alcohol use predicted higher risk trajectories. Among men, it was an early sexual debut, alcohol dependency in parent/s, non-heterosexual orientation, early sexual debut, and frequent alcohol use. The HIV risk behaviors of unmarried Indian youth are diverse. A subsection engages in high-risk behaviors that change over time and have linkages to developmental factors.