Intimate partner violence (IPV), defined as physical and sexual violence by a current or former intimate partner, poses a significant public health problem in the United States. According to CDC's 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, more than 1 in 3 women and more than 1 in 4 men reported ever having experienced IPV. Research supports a number of risk factors related primarily to female victimization including: socio-demographic variables, sexual-risk behaviors, drug use, past abuse, etc. as well as emerging evidence for risk factors unique to abused males including gender expectations, stigma, and poor social support. Literature on the relationship between drug use and IPV indicates that methamphetamine (meth) use is independently associated with IPV among male, female and couple drug-users. Meth-use has been associated with impaired judgment, poor decision-making ability, and poor sexual relationship power (SRP), all which contribute to increased sexual risk behaviors and consequently, HIV infection. Power is defined as a multidimensional concept that involves a degree of inequity in the distribution of resources and is embodied in one's personal control and ability to influence the behaviors of others. While power is most commonly conceptualized in the form of SRP within IPV research, more recent studies have documented the role of social and structural sources of power in predicting risk of HIV and IPV.
The specific aims of the proposed project are to quantitatively: 1) assess the relationship between sexual relationship power (SRP) and IPV among HIV-negative, heterosexual meth-using women and men, and 2) examine gender differences in risk factors (e.g. socio-demographic variables, SRP, condom use, drug use) associated with recent IPV using an existing data set from an HIV behavioral intervention study (FASTLANE2) conducted in 2001-2005. This study also aims to qualitatively: 3) describe the construction of power at the individual, social and structural levels and how this is related to IPV and sexual risk-taking, and 4) describe the relationship between power, IPV and sexual risk-taking behaviors within the context of meth-use. For the qualitative portion of this study we will recruit a sample of 60 heterosexual meth-using men and women (30 men and 30 women) who reside in San Diego County. Participants will be asked to complete one in-depth interview consisting of close and open-ended questions on personal characteristics, drug use, sexual risk behaviors, experience of IPV, power within their relationship, and neighborhood and social support characteristics. This research will add to the current literature by: 1) exploring gender differences in the risk factors related to IPV, 2) describing the construction of power at the individual, social and structural levels and how this impacts HIV risk behaviors and IPV; and 3) describing the relationship between power, IPV and sexual risk-taking within the context of meth-use. The long term goal of this work is to inform the creation of interventions tailored to the specific risk facors of IPV and HIV including poor power and related sexual-risk taking faced by meth-using men and women.
Research that supports excess burden of intimate partner violence (IPV) and HIV risk among meth-users illustrates a complex relationship that includes both indirect and direct pathways that independently connect meth-use, IPV, and HIV risk. Despite support for this relationship, the majority of the existing research is limited in that it:1) focuses primarily on female victimization, neglecting to approach the topics of male victimization, 2) focuses on individual and interpersonal factors, without taking into account how social and structural factors play a role in IPV and associated HIV risk, and 3) does not thoroughly examine the role of meth-use in IPV and HIV risk. Given research that support meth-users as high-risk individuals for both IPV and HIV risk, this research will provide valuable insight into an extremely vulnerable and understudied population to ultimately inform the development of more culturally sensitive and relevant interventions that target IPV, power and HIV risk among meth-using men and women.
| Hayashi, Hitomi D; Patterson, Thomas L; Semple, Shirley J et al. (2016) Risk Factors for Recent Intimate Partner Violence among Methamphetamine-Using Men and Women. J Psychoactive Drugs 48:135-45 |
