THE RESEARCHERS SOUGHT to explore and describe the demographic, cognit
ive, psychosocial, and behavioral factors associated with the continue
d risky behavior of a convenience sample of homeless and drug-addicted
women two to four weeks after they had completed an AIDS education pr
ogram. The sample included 942 crack users and 767 women who had multi
ple sex partners. Analyses revealed that impoverished women who mainta
ined multiple sexual partners were less likely to be in drug recovery
programs than in homeless shelters. They were more likely to share nee
dles and be involved sexually with male injection drug users compared
with impoverished women who did not maintain multiple sexual partners.
Persistent crack users were older than those who reported cessation o
f crack use, were more often African American, and were more likely to
have sex partners who were injecting drug users. Women who demonstrat
ed less improvement in depression and distress scores, concerns, use o
f affective coping, appraisal of threat, and social support were more
likely to maintain crack use and multiple partners. The study's implic
ations for the design of intervention programs aimed at risk reduction
based on ethnicity are discussed.