Journal of Substance Use
Volume 17, Issue 3, 2012, Pages 287-293

The impact of homelessness on recent sex trade among pregnant women in drug treatment (Article)

Brown Q.L.* , Cavanaugh C.E. , Penniman T.V. , Latimer W.W.
  • a Department of Mental Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, 2213 McElderry Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, United States
  • b Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, Camden, NJ, United States
  • c Department of Mental Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, 2213 McElderry Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, United States
  • d Department of Mental Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, 2213 McElderry Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, United States

Abstract

This study is a secondary data analysis aimed to examine the influence of recent homelessness on recent sex trade among pregnant women in drug treatment after controlling for psychiatric comorbidity, age, education and race. Eighty-one pregnant women from a drug treatment programme in Baltimore, Maryland, attended an in-person interview and completed the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders-IV for Axis I disorders, the HIV Risk Behaviour Interview and demographic questionnaires, which assessed psychiatric symptoms, recent homelessness and sexual risk behaviour, respectively. Women who experienced recent homelessness had a 4.74 greater odds of having recently traded sex than women who had not been recently homeless, suggesting that homelessness uniquely influences sex trade beyond psychiatric status, which was also a significant correlate of recent sex trade. Addressing both homelessness and psychiatric problems may effectively reduce sex trade and risk for infectious diseases, which could adversely impact maternal and child health outcomes. © 2012 Informa UK Ltd.

Author Keywords

Women Drug dependence Mental health HIV Sexual behaviour

Index Keywords

educational status sexual behavior mental health human comorbidity priority journal substance abuse Structured Clinical Interview for DSM Disorders mental disease United States female pregnancy questionnaire prostitution child health race Article high risk behavior HIV Risk Behaviour Interview adult age drug dependence treatment maternal welfare homelessness
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84860800089&doi=10.3109%2f14659891.2011.583309&partnerID=40&md5=e9a43fd96d114c8a7ecb84ba544fe43b
DOI: 10.3109/14659891.2011.583309
ISSN: 14659891
Cited by: 11
Original Language: English