Does a History of Trauma Contribute to HIV Risk for Women of Color? Implications for Prevention and Policy
Gail E. Wyatt, PhD,
Hector F. Myers, PhD,
John K. Williams, MD,
Christina Ramirez Kitchen, PhD,
Tamra Loeb, PhD,
Jennifer Vargas Carmona, PhD,
Lacey E. Wyatt, MD, MPH,
Dorothy Chin, PhD and
Nicole Presley, BA,MEd
Gail E. Wyatt, John K. Williams, Tamra Loeb, Jennifer Vargas Carmona, Dorothy Chin, and Nicole Presley are with the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles. Hector F. Myers is with the Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles. Christina Ramirez Kitchen is with the Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles. Lacey E. Wyatt is with the Department of Family Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles. Hector F. Myers is also with the Department of Psychiatry, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine & Science, Los Angeles, Calif.
Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Gail E. Wyatt, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, 760 Westwood PlazaNPI (Room C8-871C), Los Angeles, CA 90024-1759 (e-mail: gwyatt{at}mednet.ucla.edu).
Objectives. We investigated history of abuse and other HIV-relatedrisk factors in a community sample of 490 HIV-positive and HIV-negativeAfrican American, European American, and Latina women.
Methods. Baseline interviews were analyzed, and logistic regressionswere used to identify predictors of risk for positive HIV serostatusoverall and by racial/ethnic group.
Results. Race/ethnicity was not an independent predictor ofHIV-related risk, and few racial/ethnic differences in riskfactors for HIV were seen. Regardless of race/ethnicity, HIV-positivewomen had more sexual partners, more sexually transmitted diseases,and more severe histories of abuse than did HIV-negative women.Trauma history was a general risk factor for women, irrespectiveof race/ethnicity.
Conclusions. Limited material resources, exposure to violence,and high-risk sexual behaviors were the best predictors of HIVrisk.
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