WOMEN AND AIDS - SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF SEX-RELATED ACTIVITIES

Female sexual partners of injection drug users are at risk for AIDS be cause of their association with street drug cultures and all their con comitant risks, including their own non-injecting drug use. This study examines a model of the social determinants of HIV-associated sexual risk behaviors. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to analyz e the data for 207 female sexual partners who had never injected drugs . The findings show that crack cocaine use is the strongest contributo r to the model, which explains fourteen percent of the variance of sex ual risk behavior. The findings suggest that the risks associated with sexual practices are much greater for crack cocaine users than among non users of crack.