Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #108019

Anita Raj, PhD, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health, 715 Albany St, T2W, Boston, MA 02118, 617-638-6467, anitaraj@bu.edu, M. Christina Santana, MPH, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health, 715 Albany Street, Talbot Building, W264, Boston, MA 02118, David Holder, MD, Adolescent and Adult Health, Children's Hosptial Boston, 75 Bickford Street, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130, Kevin Cranston, MDiv, AIDS Bureau, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 250 Washington St., 3rd Floor, Boston, MA 02108-4619, Hortensia Amaro, PhD, Bouve College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Avenue, Stearns Building, 503, Boston, MA 02115, and Jay G. Silverman, PhD, Department for Society, Human Development and Health/Division of Public Health Practice, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, 7th floor, Boston, MA 02115.

Objective: To assess the associations between intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration and sexual risk behaviors among young men attending an urban community health center.

Methods: Men age 18 to 35 years old reporting sex with a woman in the past 3 months were recruited from an urban community health center in Boston (N=266). Participants were anonymously surveyed on their sexual risk behaviors and partner violence perpetration. Participants reporting sex with a steady female partner in the past 3 months were included in the current analyses (n=228). Logistic regression analyses adjusted for demographics were used to assess significant associations between IPV perpetration and sexual risk outcomes (i.e., unprotected sex with main partner and sexual infidelity).

Results: Participants were predominantly Hispanic (78%) and Black (20%); 38% were unemployed, and 23% held less than a high school education. Forty-two percent of participants reported IPV perpetration in the past year; 44% reported sexual infidelity in the past 3 months, and 80% reported unprotected sex with their main partner in the past 3 months. IPV perpetration was significantly associated with sexual infidelity (AOR=2.7, 95%CI=1.5-4.9); a marginal association between IPV and unprotected sex was also observed (AOR=2.0, 95% CI=.9-4.3).

Conclusion: Perpetration of IPV appears to be pervasive among our young sample of men in relationships with women and is associated with higher risk sexual behaviors. Interventions to address sexual risk with young heterosexual men must include strategies to reduce IPV perpetration.

Learning Objectives:

• To identify how pervasive male-perpetrated intimate partner violence (IPV) against women is.
• To describe how male-perpetrated IPV is associated with high risk sexual behaviors.
• To prioritize including strategies to reduce male-perpetrated IPV in sexual risk reduction programs for young men who have sex with women.

Keywords: Injury Prevention, Women and HIV/AIDS

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation