Economic Resources and HIV Preventive Behaviors Among School-Enrolled Young Women in Rural South Africa (HPTN 068).
Individual economic resources may have greater influence on school-enrolled young women's sexual decision-making than household wealth measures. However, few studies have investigated the effects of personal income, employment, and other financial assets on young women's sexual behaviors. Using baseline data from the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) 068 study, we examined the association of ever having sex and adopting sexually-protective practices with individual-level economic resources among school-enrolled women, aged 13-20 years (n = 2533). Age-adjusted results showed that among all women employment was associated with ever having sex (OR 1.56, 95 % CI 1.28-1.90). Among sexually-experienced women, paid work was associated with changes in partner selection practices (OR 2.38, 95 % CI 1.58-3.58) and periodic sexual abstinence to avoid HIV (OR 1.71, 95 % CI 1.07-2.75). Having money to spend on oneself was associated with reducing the number of sexual partners (OR 1.94, 95 % CI 1.08-3.46), discussing HIV testing (OR 2.15, 95 % CI 1.13-4.06), and discussing condom use (OR 1.99, 95 % CI 1.04-3.80). Having a bank account was associated with condom use (OR 1.49, 95 % CI 1.01-2.19). Economic hardship was positively associated with ever having sex, but not with sexually-protective behaviors. Maximizing women's individual economic resources may complement future prevention initiatives.
Department of International Health, Social and Behavioral Interventions Program, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Room E5038, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA. ljennin6@jhu.edu.
Larissa
L
Jennings
Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina, Gillings School of Global Public Health, 170 Rosenau Hall, CB #7400, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA.|Medical Research Council Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit, Agincourt, School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Audrey
A
Pettifor
FHI360, Science Facilitation, 359 Blackwell Street, Suite 200, Durham, NC, 27701, USA.
Erica
E
Hamilton
Department of Public Health Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, 135 Cannon St., Charleston, SC, 29425, USA.
Tiarney D
TD
Ritchwood
Medical Research Council Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit, Agincourt, School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.|INDEPTH Network, Accra, Ghana.
F
F
Xavier Gómez-Olivé
Medical Research Council Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit, Agincourt, School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.|School of Health, University of New England, Armidale, 2351, NSW, Australia.|Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Catherine
C
MacPhail
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Statistical Center for HIV/AIDS Research & Prevention (SCHARP), Seattle, WA, USA.|Department of Biostatistics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
James
J
Hughes
Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina, Gillings School of Global Public Health, 170 Rosenau Hall, CB #7400, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA.
Amanda
A
Selin
Medical Research Council Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit, Agincourt, School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.|INDEPTH Network, Accra, Ghana.|Centre for Global Health Research, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Kathleen
K
Kahn
D000293:Adolescent; D017280:Condoms / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D011203:Poverty / Q000523:psychology; D011209:Power, Psychological; D012424:Rural Population; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D012747:Sexual Partners; D013019:South Africa; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D047568:Unsafe Sex; D055815:Young Adult
Assets; Economic resources; HIV; Prevention; Risk behaviors; South Africa; Women