This research addresses an extremely important contemporary issue. The AIDS epidemic is replete with serious personal, interpersonal, social, and economic consequences. AIDS is of crucial concern because HIV infection rates are increasing and there are no documented cases of survivors. Those who contact the virus die, usually after a long series of secondary infections which involve prolonged personal suffering, the disruption of interpersonal relationships, and great social and economic costs to the individuals involved and to society as well. To date, efforts to curb the spread by reducing sexual behaviors have been less than successful. The proposed research is designed to determine the relationships between alcohol use and the risk for HIV infection as a consequence of risky sexual behaviors. This information can be used to develop alcohol/HIV risk profiles for specific age, gender, race, and ethnic subgroups. In turn, risk profiles can be used in programs of prevention and intervention for different social and demographic subgroups. The study will consist of two phases over five years. Phase 1 (01 thru 03 years) will be devoted to collecting data about alcohol and sexual activities from a sample of adolescents and young adults who are being treated in an STD clinic. The Phase 1 data will be collected from a sample of 138 males and 138 females, aged 15-21 years, who voluntarily present themselves as patients to the STD clinic of the local county Public Health Department. Non-Hispanic Blacks, Non-Hispanic Whites, and Hispanics will be equally represented in the Phase 1 study sample. The Phase 2 project (04 thru 05 years) will involve gathering data from a sample of 2,400 10th, 11th, and 12th grade high school students and will build on data obtained during Phase 1. The findings of the proposed investigation will provide important information necessary to develop alcohol/HIV risk profiles which can be used to structure models of prevention and intervention aimed at changing risk sexual behaviors among adolescents/young adults and, thereby, reducing their risk for HIV.
| Langer, L M; Tubman, J G (1997) Risky sexual behavior among substance-abusing adolescents: psychosocial and contextual factors. Am J Orthopsychiatry 67:315-22 |
| Tubman, J G; Langer, L M (1995) ""About last night"": the social ecology of sexual behavior relative to alcohol use among adolescents and young adults in substance abuse treatment. J Subst Abuse 7:449-61 |
