Demographic and Behavioral Characteristics of Hispanic Female Sexual Partners of Injection Drug Users

This is a study of baseline demographic, drug, and sex risk behavior data collected on 1,370 Hispanic female sexual partners of injection drug users (IDUs) located in San Juan, Puerto Rico (n = 618), Juarez, Mexico (n = 600), and the continental United States (n = 152). The study found significant differences in the demographics within the three sites in terms of age, marital status, education, employment, and income source. Differences were also found in past history of drug use, past history of sexual risk behaviors, current drug use, and current sexual risk behaviors. Only 8.5% of the women in the study had used a condom within the last 30 days prior to study entrance. Over half had been sexually abused during adulthood. The study found a need for site-specific AIDS prevention interventions based on the demographics and risk behaviors within specific groups offemale sexual partners of IDUs. The study also demonstrates a need to address the issues of sexual and physical abuse for these women.