Relationship commitment and its implications for unprotected sex among impoverished women living in shelters and low-income housing in Los Angeles County.
OBJECTIVE
To examine how relationship commitment among impoverished women is associated with their frequency of unprotected sex.


METHODS
Cross-sectional analyses were conducted on survey data from a probability sample of 445 women initially sampled from shelters and low-income housing in Los Angeles County.


METHODS
Frequency of unprotected sex in a typical month was derived as the product of 2 items: how often the woman had sex with her partner in a typical month and how often a male condom was used.


RESULTS
For both sheltered and housed women, relationship commitment predicted more frequent engagement in unprotected sex with their partner, even after controlling for the type of relationship (primary vs. casual). However, this association could not be accounted for by perceived partner monogamy, ability to refuse unwanted sex, perceived HIV susceptibility, and condom use self-efficacy. Among housed women only, never asking the partner to use a condom partially accounted for more frequent engagement in unprotected sex among women with stronger relationship commitment.


CONCLUSIONS
Results emphasize the importance of relationship commitment issues in HIV prevention interventions with impoverished women, and the need for a better understanding of relationship commitment and its influence on condom use in this population.
Tucker
Joan S
JS
RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138, USA. jtucker@rand.org
Elliott
Marc N
MN
Wenzel
Suzanne L
SL
Hambarsoomian
Katrin
K
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006208:Halfway Houses; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D015141:Los Angeles; D008875:Middle Aged; D011203:Poverty; D011638:Public Housing; D047568:Unsafe Sex