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
. 2018 Sep 15;15(1):156.
doi: 10.1186/s12978-018-0598-0.

Partner influences on young women's risky drug and sexual behavior

Miriam Clark  1 , Rohanna Buchanan  2 , Rachel Kovensky  3 , Leslie D Leve  3
Affiliations

Partner influences on young women's risky drug and sexual behavior

Miriam Clark et al. Reprod Health. .

Abstract

Background: Adolescent girls with a history of maltreatment are at heightened risk for health-risking behaviors, including unsafe sexual behaviors and drug use. However, few studies have examined the views of this population in regard to sexual partner choice, sexual behaviors, and decisions to use drugs with sexual partners.

Methods: We conducted 15 semistructured, open-ended qualitative interviews with young women ages 18-24 with a history of maltreatment and asked them to reflect on their experiences as adolescents. We used the constant comparison method to group the qualitative coded data into themes.

Results: Analysis of the interviews suggested that adolescent girls with maltreatment histories often report that they chose partners who are promotive of risky drug and sexual behavior. The interviews also provided insight into why this population is likely to use drugs with their partner and why they might be hesitant to talk about or practice safe sex with their partner.

Conclusion: The young women's feedback highlighted five areas where adolescent girls with maltreatment histories could benefit: (a) provision of information about partner characteristics that are promotive of both risky behavior and those that are linked to healthy relationships, (b) provision of information about how one's partner can influence one's own drug use,

Keywords: Adolescent experiences; Drug use; Health-risking sexual behavior; Partner influence; Qualitative interview.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of Oregon (IRB; 10,312,013.040).

Consent for publication

All research participants signed Institutional Review Board approved informed consent documents for publication prior to the interviews.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Aarons GA, James S, Monn AR, Raghavan R, Wells RS, Leslie LK. Behavior problems and placement change in a national child welfare sample: a prospective study. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2010;49:70–80. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Banducci AN, Hoffman EM, Lejuez CW, Koenen K. The impact of childhood abuse on inpatient substance users: specific links with risky sex, aggression, and emotion dysregulation. Child Abuse Negl. 2014;38(5):928–938. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.12.007. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Fettes DL, Aarons GA, Green AE. Higher rates of adolescent substance use in child welfare versus community populations in the United States. J Stud Alcohol Drugs. 2013;74(6):825. doi: 10.15288/jsad.2013.74.825. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Oshiri A, Tubman JG, Burnette ML. Childhood maltreatment histories, alcohol and other drug use symptoms, and sexual risk behavior in a treatment sample of adolescents. Am J Public Health. 2012;102(Suppl 2):S250–S257. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2011.300628. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Parkhill MR, Norris J, Cue Davi K. The role of alcohol use during sexual situations in the relationship between sexual revictimization and women’s intentions to engage in unprotected sex. Violence Vict. 2014;29(3):492–505. doi: 10.1891/0886-6708.VV-09-183. - DOI - PMC - PubMed