Purpose
Examine the event-level association between alcohol consumption and the likelihood of unprotected sex among college-age young adults considering contextual factors of partner type and amount of alcohol consumed.
Methods
A 30-day web-based structured daily diary was used to collect daily reports of sexual behaviors and alcohol use from sexually-active young adults (N = 116) yielding 2,764 diary records. Each day we assessed the prior evening’s behavior regarding, alcohol consumption, opportunities for sex, sexual intercourse, condom use, and contextual factors including type of sexual partner.
Results
Based on multilevel models, drinking proximal to events of sexual intercourse increased the likelihood of unprotected sex with casual but not steady partners. For women there was a positive association between number of drinks and a greater likelihood of unprotected sex with casual partners but a negative association with steady partners. Drinking during situations involving opportunities for sex with casual partners increased the likelihood of sex. For women especially, drinking more increased the likelihood of sex occurring regardless of partner type.
Conclusions
Failure to assess the contextual determinants of the alcohol—unprotected sex association may result in underestimates of the magnitude of this association. These data highlight an important area for intervention with young adults: reducing alcohol-involved sexual risk behavior with casual partners, especially among women.
A motivational/individual differences model of infidelity is proposed in the course of empirically evaluating the traditional dichotomy between emotional and sexual motives. A scale assessing motivations for infidelity was developed and administered to 432 college students, 120 of whom reported past dating infidelity. Four motivations were identified and were associated as predicted with Big Five and other trait constructs; Sex was predicted by male gender, lower age, and unrestricted sociosexual orientation (SO); Dissatisfaction was predicted by female gender and Extraversion; Neglect was predicted by Neuroticism; and Anger by Neuroticism and low Agreeableness. As predicted, a two-factor model provides a poorer fit with the data than a multi-factor model. Unrestricted SO partially mediates the gender difference in endorsement of a sex motive for infidelity.
Objective-Evaluate the feasibility, fidelity, and effectiveness of an HIV prevention intervention delivered to HIV-infected patients by counselors during routine clinical care in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.Methods-Total of 152 HIV-infected patients, aged 18 years and older, receiving clinical care at an urban hospital in South Africa, were randomly assigned to intervention or standard-of-care control counselors. Intervention counselors implemented a brief risk reduction intervention at each clinical encounter to help patients reduce their unprotected sexual behavior. Self-report questionnaires were administered at baseline and 6 months to assess number of unprotected sex events in previous 3 months.Results-Intervention was delivered in 99% of routine patient visits, and included a modal 8 of 8 intervention steps. Although HIV-infected patients in both conditions reported more vaginal and anal sex events at 6-month follow-up than at baseline, patients who received the counselor-delivered intervention reported a significant decrease over time in number of unprotected sexual events. There
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