Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Jan;20 Suppl 1(0 1):S52-9.
doi: 10.1007/s10461-015-1177-9.

Alcohol Use Predicts Number of Sexual Partners for Female but not Male STI Clinic Patients

Kate B Carey  1   2 , Theresa E Senn  3 , Jennifer L Walsh  4   5 , Lori A J Scott-Sheldon  6   4   5 , Michael P Carey  6   4   5
Affiliations

Alcohol Use Predicts Number of Sexual Partners for Female but not Male STI Clinic Patients

Kate B Carey et al. AIDS Behav. 2016 Jan.

Abstract

This study tested the hypothesis that greater alcohol involvement will predict number of sexual partners to a greater extent for women than for men, and that the hypothesized sex-specific, alcohol-sexual partner associations will hold when controlling for alternative sex-linked explanations (i.e., depression and drug use). We recruited 508 patients (46 % female, 67 % African American) from a public sexually transmitted infections (STI) clinic. Participants reported number of sexual partners, drinks per week, maximum drinks per day, frequency of heavy drinking; they also completed the AUDIT-C and a measure of alcohol problems. As expected, men reported more drinking and sexual partners. Also as expected, the association between alcohol use and number of partners was significant for women but not for men, and these associations were not explained by drug use or depression. A comprehensive prevention strategy for women attending STI clinics might include alcohol use reduction.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00947271.

Keywords: AIDS; Alcohol; HIV; Partner concurrency; Sexual behavior; Women.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Owusu-Edusei K, Jr, Chesson HW, Gift TL, et al. The estimated direct medical cost of selected sexually transmitted infections in the United States, 2008. Sex Transm Dis. 2013;40(3):197–201. - PubMed
    1. Satterwhite CL, Kamb ML, Metcalf C, et al. Changes in sexual behavior and STD prevalence among heterosexual STD clinic attendees: 1993–1995 versus 1999–2000. Sex Transm Dis. 2007;34(10):815–819. - PubMed
    1. Cook RL, Comer DM, Wiesenfeld HC, et al. Alcohol and drug use and related disorders: An underrecognized health issue among adolescents and young adults attending sexually transmitted disease clinics. Sex Transm Dis. 2006;33(9):565–570. - PubMed
    1. Baliunas D, Rehm J, Irving H, Shuper P. Alcohol consumption and risk of incident human immunodeficiency virus infection: a meta-analysis. Int J Public Health. 2010;55(3):159–166. - PubMed
    1. Cook RL, Clark DB. Is there an association between alcohol consumption and sexually transmitted diseases? A systematic review. Sex Transm Dis. 2005;32(3):156–164. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Associated data