PSYCHOSOCIAL CORRELATES OF AIDS-RISK DRUG-USE AND SEXUAL BEHAVIORS

Theoretical and empirical research suggests psychosocial functioning i s important in drug abuse intervention strategies, especially those fo cusing on efforts to change AIDS risk behaviors. Self-esteem, depressi on, anxiety, proneness to risk taking, decision-making confidence, sel f-assessment of drug use problems, and desire for help with drug probl ems, along with personal background and health history indicators, wer e assessed for 194 injection drug users in an AIDS prevention outreach program in New Orleans. Composite index scores for needle risk behavi ors were associated with low self-esteem and low decision-making confi dence as well as with higher scores on depression, anxiety, drug use p roblems, and desire for help. However, these psychosocial measures wer e not significantly related to the composite index for sex risks. Heal th history measures, represented by previous exposures to hepatitis an d sexually transmitted diseases, were significantly related to both ne edle and sex risk indices. Implications for AIDS intervention efforts are discussed.