Sociodemographic Correlates of STD Biomarker Outcomes in a National Sample of Young Adults

William M. Mason, University of California, Los Angeles
Dawn Upchurch, University of California, Los Angeles
Edward Hook, University of Alabama at Birmingham

This paper uses data from the recently released Wave III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to investigate the effects of a comprehensive set of sociodemographic characteristics on risk of STD using biomarker measurements. We begin by estimating separate equations for gonorrhea, chlamydia, and trichomoniasis and then treat the problem of correlated outcomes from a multilevel modeling perspective (i.e. tests are nested within individuals).