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Sexual Risk among Impoverished Women: Understanding the Role of Housing Status

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Abstract

HIV/AIDS increasingly affects women, and housing status is important to understanding HIV risk behaviors among women. The goal of this study is to enhance understanding of the association between housing status and a key sexual risk behavior, having multiple sex partners, by investigating the extent to which housing status differences can be accounted for by hypothesized explanatory factors. In a probability sample of 833 women in Los Angeles, results indicated that homeless African American and Hispanic women had from two to almost five times greater odds than low-income housed women of having multiple sex partners in the past 6 months. These disparities in risk behavior were accounted for by housing status differences in perceived susceptibility to HIV/AIDS, recent victimization by physical violence, drug use severity, and avoidant coping. Findings provide further evidence that interventions should address a multifaceted context of HIV risk for impoverished women.

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Notes

  1. The median monthly income of women in this study was $692; the federal poverty level for 2001 for a family of one was $716. Source: Federal Register Vol. 66, No. 33, February 16, 2001, pp. 10695–10697.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by grant R01 HD41712 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. We thank Judy Perlman, Kirsten Becker, and Crystal Kollross for data collection.

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  1. RAND Corporation, 1776 Main Street, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA, 90407-2138, USA

    Suzanne L. Wenzel, Joan S. Tucker, Marc N. Elliott & Katrin Hambarsoomians

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  1. Suzanne L. Wenzel
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Correspondence to Suzanne L. Wenzel.

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Wenzel, S.L., Tucker, J.S., Elliott, M.N. et al. Sexual Risk among Impoverished Women: Understanding the Role of Housing Status. AIDS Behav 11 (Suppl 2), 9–20 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-006-9193-4

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