Suchergebnisse

Intimate partner violence is widespread worldwide. While assumed to impact women's ability to use contraceptive methods, few data are available to support this claim. In this study, eight focus group discussions were conducted to guide questionnaire development and to provide contextual information. Participants were women who were currently using the pill and women who had used the pill previously. In addition, 300 women were interviewed who initiated oral contraceptive pill use between December 1995 and April 1996. Participants were interviewed 3–6 months later to investigate the role intimate partner violence played in covert pill use and pill discontinuation. Special study procedures for asking women questions about violence were employed. Nineteen per cent of the women interviewed were using the pill covertly. The odds of covert pill use were four times higher in El Alto and La Paz than in Santa Cruz. Women who used the pill covertly were more likely to have experienced method-related partner violence (OR=21.27) than women whose partners knew of their pill use. One-third of the women had discontinued pill use at the time of the interview. In the final multivariate analysis, having experienced side-effects (OR=2.37) was a significant predictor of pill discontinuation and method-related partner violence was marginally predictive (OR=1.91; 95% CI 1.0–3.66). While efforts are ongoing to incorporate men into family planning programmes, some male partners oppose, and in some situations violently oppose, contraceptive use. The needs of women with these types of partners must not be overlooked.

This study surveyed 178 children incarcerated in training schools in North Carolina to estimate the proportion of children who had been witnesses to or victims of neighborhood and family violence, the children's levels of depressive symptoms, and relationships between violence exposure and depressive symptoms. Neighborhood violence was assessed using questions adapted from Richters and Martinez, family violence was assessed using questions from the Conflict Tactics Scales, and depressive symptoms were assessed using the Children's Depression Inventory. Results showed that the majority of children reported having been exposed to neighborhood and family violence. Children evidenced high levels of depressive symptoms with more than 70% showing clinically relevant levels of symptomatology. Multiple linear regression procedures found that both neighborhood and family violence were predictive of the levels of depressive symptoms. These findings underline the need to provide highquality therapeutic services to children during incarceration in training schools and after their discharge.

This study examined the associations between preincarceration risky sex and drug behaviors and HIV status among incarcerated women. A consecutive sample of 805 women felons admitted to the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women between July 1991 and November 1992 was interviewed. Of these women, 700 granted permission to access their prison medical records and had complete information on relevant variables. Four percent of the women inmates were HIV positive. Over 80% of the women inconsistently used condoms during intercourse, and over 15% injected drugs, had a drug-injecting sex partner, and exchanged sex for money/drugs. The exchange of sex for money/drugs was associated with being HIV positive. The study findings suggest that prison-based HIV prevention programs should emphasize sexual and drug risk-reduction strategies as a means to reduce the heterosexual HIV risks facing women inmates once released back into the general community.

Abstract
Little is known about how minor sex exchange (MSE) may impact violence victimization during adulthood. This study investigates potential associations between MSE and forms of interpersonal violence victimization in young adulthood, while controlling for additional forms of violence experienced in childhood and adolescence. Data from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (n = 11,500) were used in this analysis. Multivariable logistic regression estimated associations between adolescent victimizations and interpersonal violence in young adulthood, while controlling for demographic variables, adolescent risk behaviors, and child maltreatment. Although multivariable models found that MSE was not significantly associated with either form of interpersonal violence in young adulthood, adolescent IPV and community violence significantly increased the likelihood of IPV in young adulthood, and adolescent community violence significantly increased the likelihood of community violence in young adulthood. Adolescent risk behaviors, child maltreatment, and certain demographic characteristics were also associated with violence in young adulthood. Prevention, intervention, and screening efforts should consider how violence victimization across the life course—from childhood to young adulthood—impacts the experiences and needs of violence survivors.

Although substance abuse has consistently been linked to child maltreatment, no study to date has described the extent of substance abuse among child maltreatment offenders within the military. Analysis of U.S. Army data on all substantiated incidents of parental child maltreatment committed between 2000 and 2004 by active duty soldiers found that 13% of offenders were noted to have been abusing alcohol or illicit drugs at the time of their child maltreatment incident. The odds of substance abuse were increased for offenders who committed child neglect or emotional abuse, but were reduced for child physical abuse. The odds of offender substance abuse nearly tripled in child maltreatment incidents that also involved co-occurring spouse abuse. Findings include a lack of association between offender substance abuse and child maltreatment recurrence, possibly because of the increased likelihood of removal of offenders from the home when either substance abuse or spouse abuse were documented.