Relationships with children and aids‐risk behaviors among female IDUs

Abstract

This study utilizes in‐depth interviews of female injecting drug users (IDUs) supplemented by analyses of a large national data set to explore the association between the strength of the social bond and participation in a health‐related form of deviance: AIDS risk behaviors. The theoretical framework extends social control theory by examining the effects of further weakening of the social bond in an already deviant population. Risk behaviors are operationalized as a second‐level of deviance among individuals already participating in initial‐level deviant behavior (drug use). Prior research on how aspects of the social bond deter the individual from further deviance during adulthood has focused on males. Careers and marriage have been examined as elements of social control. The subjects of this study are female, however. For women, careers and marriage are often less salient, and relationships with children may be a more relevant measure of the social bond.

In‐depth interviews with eighteen female IDUs and two former IDUs are presented to explore the degree to which relationships with children deter female IDUs from participating in risky behaviors. Analysis of the interview data suggests that the presence, weakening, or rupturing of the bond to children is related to higher levels of second‐level deviance in the form of AIDS‐risk behaviors. However, the interviews also suggest that there are qualitative differences in the deterrence effects of weakened bonds to children, depending on the circumstances as well as the level of ongoing interaction between mother and child. Analyses of the data from the National AIDS Demonstration Research (NADR) Project are then presented, providing additional support to the conclusion that loss of relationships with children is related to higher levels of risk.