Gender differences in the initiation of injection drug use among young adults

To characterize the circumstances surrounding initiation of injecting drug use, data were collected from 229 young, recently initiated injection drug users enrolled through community-based recruitment in Baltimore, Maryland. Gender differences in the pattern of initiation, the number of persons pres ent at initiation, risky injection, and sexual behaviors at initiation, as well as behaviors after initiation, were examined. Overall, men and women w ere similar statistically with respect to age at initiation (19.5 years) an d risk behaviors at initiation. While men were initiated by men (77%), wome n were more often. initiated by women (65%), most of whom were friends (75% ) or relatives (23%) The percentage of women infected with human immunodefi ciency virus (HIV) was slightly greater than that of men, 17% versus 11% (P < .2), whether initiated by a man or a woman. Persons who self-initiated h ad a lower HIV prevalence and fewer HN-related risk behaviors. Analysis of variance assessed differences in the HN risk profiles of female and male ID Us who were initiated by someone of the same sex, of the opposite sex, or w ho self-initiated. These results indicated that (1) young women and men had similar patterns of injection initiation; (2) most women were initiated by female friends, running counter to earlier literature claims that women we re initiated to injection drug use by male sex partners; and (3) women init iated by men had a marginally greater mean score on the HIV risk profile.