Hugh Klein, PhD, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, 401 Schuyler Road, Silver Spring, MD 20910, 301-588-8875, hughk@aol.com, Claire Sterk, PhD, Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education, Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University, 1518 Clifton Road, NE, Atlanta, GA 30322, and Kirk W. Elifson, Department of Sociology, Georgia State University, One University Plaza, Atlanta, GA 30303.

PURPOSE: Many studies have shown that psychosocial factors affect involvement in HIV risk behaviors. Research focusing on the link between coping and risk practices has been lacking. This study examines one specific coping behavior that has been virtually ignored in the published literature–namely, having sex as a way of coping with stress–and assesses its relationship to the frequency of sexual risk taking. METHOD: The data, collected between June 1997 and August 1998, come from the formative data for the Health Improvement Project, which targeted nearly 250 “at risk” drug-abusing women in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Face-to-face interviews were conducted. Targeted sampling, ethnographic mapping, and participant referrals were used to develop the study sample. RESULTS: Multiple regression was used to analyze the data, and the final model containing only significant predictors of women’s frequency of having risky sex explained nearly half (49.7%) of the variance. The multivariate analysis considered the effects of demographic variables, background measures, psychosocial functioning items, childhood maltreatment experiences, and substance use/abuse factors. It found that having sex as a way of coping was a significant predictor of the frequency with which women engaged in risky sex. The more often they had sex to cope, the more often they tended to engage in high-risk sexual practices. CONCLUSIONS: “At risk” women need to be shown how to cope more adaptively with their stresses in ways other than by relying upon sex. HIV intervention projects targeting drug-abusing women ought to include sessions on stress reduction and enhancing coping skills.

Learning Objectives: After hearing this paper, participants will learn

(
• how often "at risk" drug-using women reported engaging in sexual relations in order to help them cope with their daily stresses; (
• that, for these women, there is a strong association relationship between having sex to cope and the frequency with which they engage in risky sex; (
• what other factors predict the frequency of engaging in high-risk sex; (
• what factors are predictive of the frequency with which women reported having sex to cope with their everyday stresses; and (
• what future HIV intervention programs might wish to consider doing to help "at risk" substance abusing women reduce their levels of HIV risk.

Keywords: HIV Risk Behavior, Psychological Indicators

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.