HIV/STD Risk Factors for Women with Violent Male Partners

Reports a 4-month study in low-income communities comparatively examining 167 women -- categorized as nonabused, emotionally abused, or physically abused in their primary relationships -- on sexual risk factors. Physically abused women differed in several ways: greater STD (sexually transmitted disease) risk, psychosocial distress, & substance use; more traditional gender-role beliefs; lower self-esteem; greater likelihood of having been raped or engaged in sex for pay; & smaller likelihood of attending the project's STD/HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) risk reduction groups. Within primary relationships, they differed in amount of decision-making power about safer sex, likelihood of nonmonogamy, use of substances before sex, & self-efficacy about initiating condom use. African American women reported higher rates of emotional abuse than white women, a finding related mainly to their lower socioeconomic status in this sample. 6 Tables, 62 References. Adapted from the source document.