title: Maintenance of safe sex behavior by HIV-serodiscordant heterosexual couples.
abstract: We present findings from a prospective study of heterosexual HIV transmission in stable New Jersey couples who are serodiscordant for HIV and in which the uninfected partner is at risk solely from heterosexual contact. One hundred thirty-one couples were interviewed at enrollment and 6-month follow-up. This report describes couples' sexual behavior before and after knowledge of infective risk and examines associations of behavior with clinical and demographic characteristics. We observed that HIV serodiscordant couples' habitual sexual practices, drug and alcohol use, and measure of psychological distress may predict difficulty in adopting and maintaining safe sex. An understanding of common risk sexual behavior patterns and characteristic correlates of risk taking may prove useful for counseling individuals at risk and their infected partners and may contribute to the development of effective public health messages targeted to eliminate unsafe sexual contact.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School, Newark 07103-2714, USA.
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Skurnick
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Abrams
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Kennedy
authors.forename: S N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Valentine
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Cordell
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017280:Condoms / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D018023:HIV Seronegativity; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000523:psychology / Q000635:transmission*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology*; D020010:Heterosexuality / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009515:New Jersey; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data