Sexual health behaviors and outcomes among current and former foster youth: A review of the literature

• This article reviews 56 articles exploring foster youth sexual health.
• Former and current foster youth are at risk for engaging in risky sexual behavior.
• Former and current foster youth are at high risk for poor sexual health outcomes.

This review examines literature related to pregnancy, sexual health outcomes, and sexual risk behaviors for foster youth and youth who are aging/have aged out of foster care. Using the search terms foster youth, aging out, pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, sexually transmitted infections, sexual risk, sexual behavior, and sexual health, 26,376 sources were initially identified. After removing duplicate sources and those that did not meet inclusion criteria and adding others identified through the references of identified sources, 53 sources were included in the review. Outcome measures were grouped into broad categories of pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, and risky sexual behaviors, with each having several subparts. Implications for social work practice and policy are presented and directions for future research are highlighted.