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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2009;35(5):305-10.
doi: 10.1080/00952990903060127.

Substance use, childhood sexual abuse, and sexual risk behavior among women in methadone treatment

Lisa R Cohen  1 , Susan Tross, Martina Pavlicova, Mei-Chen Hu, Aimee N Campbell, Edward V Nunes
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Substance use, childhood sexual abuse, and sexual risk behavior among women in methadone treatment

Lisa R Cohen et al. Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse. 2009.

Abstract

Background: Substance use and a history of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) are risk factors for unprotected sex among women, yet questions remain as to how their combined influence may differentially affect sexual risk.

Objective: The current study investigated how complex relationships among drug use and CSA may contribute to unprotected sexual occasions (USO).

Methods: A Generalized Linear Mixed Model was used to examine the interaction between current cocaine/stimulants and opioid use and CSA on number of USOs in a sample of 214 sexually active women in outpatient methadone maintenance treatment.

Results: For women with CSA, an increase in days of cocaine/stimulant use was associated with a significant increase in USOs. In contrast, an increase in days of opiate use was associated with a significant decrease in USOs. For the group of women who did not report CSA, there was a significant increase in USOs with increased opiate use.

Conclusions: Findings indicate that CSA is related to unprotected sexual occasions depending on drug type and severity of use.

Scientific significance: Women with CSA using cocaine are at particularly high risk for having unprotected sex and should be specifically targeted for HIV prevention interventions.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

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