(Vancouver) A Vancouver study has found a strong relationship between a history of sexual abuse and behaviours that put people at risk for HIV infection. Young gay and bisexual men who reported being forced or coerced into having sex as adolescents or adults were more than twice as likely to have recently engaged in high-risk sex, as reported today at the XI International Conference on AIDS.
Researchers analysed 287 questionnaires completed by participants in the Vanguard Project, an ongoing study of HIV rates and risk factors in young gay and bisexual men in the Greater Vancouver region. Participants who had engaged in high-risk behaviours in the previous year were compared to those who had consistently protected themselves, in order to examine the social determinants of risk behaviour.
One third of the participants reported having experienced non-consensual sex at some point in their lives, and one in seven had been sexually abused under the age of 12. The vast majority of the abusers were male. Most of the participants who had been abused as children identified male relatives and males known to the family as the abusers. Those who had been forced to have sex as adolescents identified male strangers as the most common perpetrators, and those who experienced non-consensual sex as adults identified male dates or boyfriends as the most common perpetrators.
Not only were participants who had engaged in high-risk sex in the previous year more likely to have been sexually abused, they were also twice as likely to consume heavier quantities of alcohol and to have used cocaine, nicotine and nitrite inhalants (poppers). They were also more likely to have been paid for sex in the previous year and to report symptoms of depression. They were less likely to have stable housing and formal education.
"These findings indicate a significant association between sexual abuse and subsequent risk behaviour," says Dr. Steffanie Strathdee, program manager for the study. "We can't conclude that there is a causal relationship between sexual abuse and risk behaviour, however, since sexual abuse could be a marker of vulnerability rather than a predisposing factor." Dr. Strathdee will be presenting these findings today at the XI International Conference on AIDS.
"Our findings suggest a heightened vulnerability among male survivors of sexual abuse towards behaviours that place them at risk of HIV infection, and suggest that sexual abuse counselling should be integrated into HIV prevention efforts. The fact that depression was also linked to sexual risk-taking suggests that underlying psychological distress may lead to situations where people are less able to negotiate safer sex," says Dr. Strathdee.
The new findings are consistent with results from the Point Project, a 1995 study of injection drug users by the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, which found that injection drug users who had been sexually abused were three times as likely to share needles. Dr. Strathdee will be presenting results from both studies at the conference today.
One thousand young gay and bisexual men are being recruited to participate in the Vanguard Project. Participation involves an annual HIV test and a self-administered questionnaire on sexual behaviours, substance use and life experience. Eligible participants are men between the ages of 18 and 30 who live in the Lower Mainland. The study is a project of by the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS at St. Paul's Hospital, in cooperation with UBC.
For more information, contact:
Bonnie Devlin
Vanguard Project Coordinator
608 - 1081 Burrard Street
Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6Z 1Y6
Tel: (604)806-8306
Fax: (604)806-9044