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Time Since Release from Incarceration and HIV Risk Behaviors Among Women: The Potential Protective Role of Committed Partners During Re-entry

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Abstract

After release from incarceration, former female inmates face considerable stressors, which may influence drug use and other risk behaviors that increase risk for HIV infection. Involvement in a committed partnership may protect women against re-entry stressors that may lead to risky behaviors. This study measured the association between time since release from incarceration (1–6 months ago, and >6 months ago versus never incarcerated) and HIV risk behaviors and evaluated whether these associations differed by involvement in a committed partnership. Women released within the past 6 months were significantly more likely to have smoked crack cocaine, used injection drugs and engaged in transactional sex in the past month compared to never-incarcerated women and women released more distally. Stratified analyses indicated that incarceration within the past 6 months was associated with crack cocaine smoking, injection drug use and transactional sex among women without a committed partner yet unassociated with these risk behaviors among those with a committed partner.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by a grant awarded to William Latimer from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA-R01 DA14498). The funding source played no role in the study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the paper for publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, College of Public Health and Health Professions, University of Florida, 1225 Center Drive, P.O. Box 100165, Gainesville, FL, 32610-0165, USA

    Lauren E. Hearn, Nicole Ennis Whitehead & William W. Latimer

  2. Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health and Health Professions, University of Florida, 1225 Center Drive, P.O. Box 100165, Gainesville, FL, 32610-0165, USA

    Maria R. Khan

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  1. Lauren E. Hearn
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Correspondence to Lauren E. Hearn.

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Hearn, L.E., Whitehead, N.E., Khan, M.R. et al. Time Since Release from Incarceration and HIV Risk Behaviors Among Women: The Potential Protective Role of Committed Partners During Re-entry. AIDS Behav 19, 1070–1077 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-014-0886-9

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