News Archive: HIV, STDs, and Sexual Behavior
Return to present year
2006
Housing status can be an indicator of HIV/AIDS-associated risk behaviors in women — Dec. 28, 2006
An association exists between the housing status of women and risk behaviors that have the potential of subjecting those women to HIV/AIDS. Homeless women are at greater risk than low-income housed women because they are statistically more likely to have multiple sex partners.
Read abstract
More research related to substance abuse
Lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth welcome sexuality discussions with their physicians — Dec. 18, 2006
About one-third of physicians for lesbian, gay, and bisexual adolescents are aware of their patients' sexual preferences. LGB adolescents indicate that physicians can simply ask them how to most comfortably discuss sexuality and health issues. Nondisclosure can lead to missed opportunities for identifying health risks.
Read abstract
Possible link between HIV/AID-infected mothers and their children's mental health — Oct. 25, 2006
The physical health of mothers with HIV/AIDs appears to be associated with the mental health of their children. Also, the stability of a mother's health may be associated with improvement in the mental health of their children over time.
Read abstract
New program helps parents communicate with their teenagers about sexual health — Oct. 2006
Talking Parents, Healthy Teens is a worksite-based intervention program designed to help parents improve their communication with their adolescent children, promote healthy adolescent sexual development, and reduce adolescent sexual risk behaviors. This study reviews the relevant literature and describes the theory behind the development of this program.
Treating HIV patients with mental illness in the same location does not affect quality of care — Sep. 2006
A study of HIV patients with serious mental illness revealed that most patients reported satisfaction with mental health and HIV treatment they were receiving at the same location. Co-location also did not affect utilization of services or appropriateness of care.
Sociodemographic characteristics of African Americans related to conspiracy beliefs about HIV/AIDS and birth control — Aug. 2006
African Americans who were male and had lower incomes were more likely to have stronger conspiracy beliefs regarding HIV/AIDS and black genocide. Males with strong religious beliefs were also more likely to believe in contraceptive safety conspiracies.
Health-related quality of life in HIV patients is strongly related to symptoms — Aug. 2006
The functioning and well-being of patients with HIV is strongly linked to the symptoms they experience. Each additional symptom was associated with worsened overall health and worsened overall quality of life. As patients' total numbers of symptoms decreased, their overall health and overall quality of life improved.
Adolescents who listen to music with degrading sexual lyrics have sex sooner — Aug. 2006
The more time adolescents spend listening to music with sexually degrading lyrics, the more likely they are to initiate intercourse and other sexual activities. This holds true for boys and girls as well as for whites and nonwhites. Only sexually degrading lyrics are related to changes in adolescents' sexual behavior.
Structural interventions can prevent HIV in low-prevalence populations — July 2006
This study used the cost-effectiveness estimator "Maximizing the Benefit" to determine the relative cost effectiveness of several structural HIV prevention interventions. Results suggest that structural interventions hold the greatest promise in reducing HIV transmission among low-prevalence populations.
Disclosure of HIV status related to type of sexual relationship — June 2006
Participants from the HIV Cost and Services Utilization Study (HCSUS) were more likely to disclose HIV status to sexual partners during one-time encounters and occasional partnerships than when involved in short relationships. Women were less likely to have sex without disclosure than homosexual men.
Children's awareness of parental HIV status — May 2006
HIV-infected parents often worry about the emotional consequences of telling their children they have the disease. Fewer than half of the children in this study were aware of their parent's HIV status, and many parents said they did not know how to tell their children or were concerned the child would tell other people.
Some HIV-positive people deliberately choose sexual abstinence — May 2006
Eleven percent of gay or bisexual men, 18 percent of heterosexual men and 18 percent of women being treated for the virus that causes AIDS deliberately chose to be sexually abstinent.
Victimization among young homeless women associated with physical and behavioral health problems — May 2006
Young women in homeless shelters who had experienced physical victimization as children or young adults were more likely to have a sexually-transmitted disease, drug abuse, and depression.
Patterns of HIV care for patients with serious mental illness — Mar. 2006
Results of this study suggest that seriously mentally ill patients with HIV are receiving adequate HIV care. Fifty-one percent of these patients were taking highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) and more than 80% received close monitoring of their CD4 counts and viral loads.
HIV testing rates vary across residential ZIP codes — Mar. 2006
Residents of ZIP code areas with higher concentrations of African Americans were more likely to get tested for HIV than residents of White or Latino areas, regardless of individuals' own race/ethnicity or the number of AIDS cases or testing sites in those areas.
Neighborhood access to alcohol linked to gonorrhea rates — Mar. 2006
An examination of the effects of neighborhood changes on certain sexually transmitted diseases found that gonorrhea rates are linked to the number of neighborhood alcohol outlets.
Successful STD screening in low-income Brazilian communities — Mar. 2006
Results suggest that screening for STDs in Brazil in non-clinical settings is feasible and can help many young adults in low-income communities. This kind of screening can identify STD infections in populations who are unlikely to be tested or treated otherwise.
Depression and PTSD both impact HIV patients' medication use and health outcomes — Feb. 2006
In patients with HIV, having symptoms of depression or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affected how well these patients followed their prescribed treatment with medications. However, patients with symptoms of both mental disorders were also more likely to have a detectable viral load.
Cigarette smoking patterns in young women linked with early sexual activity — Feb. 2006
Women with certain patterns of smoking from age 13-23 are at increased risk for early sexual activity and parenthood, as well as health, behavioral, and socioeconomic problems during young adulthood.
Sexual behavior may be determined by collective group association — Feb. 2006
Sexual activity may be a collective behavior, determined in part by the group to which individuals belong. Efforts to reduce high-risk behavior may be more effective if they address the entire population.
Discrimination among African American women seeking family planning services — Feb. 2006
Findings suggest there is a perception of race-based discrimination in obtaining family planning services among African American women in the U.S. 67% of women who reported having seen a health care provider for family planning or birth control services reported race-based discrimination.
Gender differences in sexual risk reduction strategies — Jan. 2006
Sexual risk reduction behavior among heterosexual illegal drug users revealed gender-based differences that require appropriate intervention strategies. In both men and women, stronger commitment to safer sex results in less risky behavior. For men, greater understanding of AIDS resulted in safer behavior, while for women risk was reduced in connection with higher self-efficacy.
Effect of television on adolescent sexual behavior may differ between ethnic groups — Jan. 2006
This study investigated whether exposure to sexual content on television would influence adolescents' expectations about sex and their use of safe-sex practices, and also whether those effects would impact sexual initiation. Findings suggest some impact among African Americans and Whites, but not among Hispanics.
Condom use in men affected more by affective beliefs than cognitive beliefs — Jan. 2006
Men's affective beliefs (e.g., pleasure-related) about condoms was a stronger predictor of condom use than their cognitive beliefs (e.g., effectiveness). HIV-prevention interventions will be more effective if they address the negative affective reactions to condom use, in addition to promoting the protective value of condoms.
Top