Life Events and Sexual Risk Among HIV-Negative, Heterosexual, Methamphetamine Users

Abstract

Identifying psychosocial factors associated with sexual risk behavior among methamphetamine users is essential to enhancing HIV and sexually transmitted infection prevention. This study examined the relationship between positive and negative life events and sexual risk behavior in a sample of 100 HIV-negative, heterosexually identified, methamphetamine-using men and women. Negative life event categories included death of a significant other, negative health event involving self or significant other, and child custody or visitation issues. Categories of positive life events included birth or pregnancy involving self or significant other, a positive relationship event, and a positive life change. Multivariate analyses demonstrated that negative life events were positively associated with total number of unprotected sex acts, whereas positive life events were not associated with sexual risk taking. Also, amount of methamphetamine used did not moderate the relationship between life events and sexual risk behavior. These data support future research to identify underlying mechanisms that link negative life events to sexual risk taking in this high-risk population.

Funding for this work was provided, in part, by the National Institute of Mental Health Grant No. R01 MH61146–06 (“Reducing HIV/STD Risk, Methamphetamine Use, and Depression Among Heterosexuals”) and the Department of Veterans Affairs. We thank the participants in our study for their time and support for this project.

Notes

Note. N = 100.

^a n = 55.

^b n = 45.

Note. N = 99. One case is missing methamphetamine use data.

^a Log-10 transformed variable.

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.