PREDICTORS OF MAINTAINED HIGH-RISK BEHAVIORS AMONG IMPOVERISHED WOMEN

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.