Data from the National AIDS Behavioral Surveys. I. Sexual risk for human immunodeficiency virus infection among women in high-risk cities.

Data from 3,482 women aged 18-49 living in 23 urban areas of the United States who participated in the 1990-1991 National AIDS Behavioral Surveys show that in the preceding year, approximately 15% engaged in sexual behavior that might expose them to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Risk behaviors include having multiple sexual partners, having a risky main sexual partner or having both multiple partners and a risky main partner. An additional 17% of women with no other risk factor report that they do not know their main partner's HIV risk status. Predictors of risk factors vary by ethnicity, and having multiple partners and having a risky main partner appear to have distinct sets of predictors. Single women are more likely than others to have multiple partners, and among white women, those with more than 12 years of education are more likely to have multiple partners. Among blacks and Hispanics, younger women are more likely than older women to have multiple partners. Among Hispanic women, married respondents and those with more than 12 years of education are more likely than others to have a risky main sexual partner; the latter pattern is reversed among white women, however, with those having less than 12 years of education being more likely to have a risky main sexual partner. In general, women with a risky main partner are the least likely to use condoms consistently.