Citation

Sormanti M, Wu E, El-Bassel N. Women Health 2004; 39(1): 45-63.

Affiliation

Center for Intervention and Prevention Research in HIV and Drug Abuse at the Columbia University School of Social Work, New York, NY 10025, USA. ms778@columbia.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1300/J013v39n01_03

PMID

15002882

Abstract

This study describes the types of intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual HIV-risk factors reported by a sample of 139 African American and Latina women ages 50 and older receiving care in outpatient clinics of an urban medical center. Additionally, we obtained estimates of the associations between experiencing IPV in a primary heterosexual relationship and the following HIV-risk behaviors among our sample of older minority women: (a) having multiple sexual partners, (b) STD history, (c) partner-related risk (i.e., having a partner who has multiple sexual partners, is HIV-infected, injecting drugs, and/or has an STD), and (d) self-perception of risk for HIV infection. Results indicate that many of these women are engaged in sexual risk behaviors, and such behaviors are associated with increased likelihood of IPV for this cohort. Implications for health care professionals are discussed.

Language: en