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PubMed1991

Predictors of HIV-preventive sexual behavior in a high-risk adolescent population: the influence of perceived peer norms and sexual communication on incarcerated adolescents' consistent use of condoms.

Data were collected from 112 sexually active adolescents incarcerated in a juvenile detention facility to identify predictors of consistent use of condoms during sexual intercourse. Adolescents completed an anonymous epidemiologic survey instrument developed by the Centers for Disease Control. The self-report survey assessed demographic, psychosocial, and behavioral factors. Three factors were identified as associated with consistent condom use. These significant bivariate factors were entered into a multivariate logistic regression model to identify the independent contribution of each factor. Non-Black adolescents, adolescents who communicate with their sex partners about AIDS, and those who perceive peer norms as supporting condom use were significantly more likely to be consistent condom users. The findings suggest that Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) prevention programs for incarcerated adolescents that emphasize training in communication skills and modifying perceptions of peer normative behavior may be more effective in increasing the adoption and maintenance of condom use.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed2006

Low-income African American women's attempts to convince their main partner to use condoms.

In this cross-sectional study the authors examine condom use attempts and condom use among 305 high-risk, low-income African American women who reported having a main partner. Women who had recently attempted to convince their main partner to use condoms were almost 10 times more likely to have recently used condoms with their partner than women who had not made an attempt. Among the subsample of 116 women who had recently made a condom use attempt with their main partner, having a history of childhood abuse and having one's main partner raise infidelity questions in response to the condom use attempt were negatively associated with recent condom use with this partner. Findings provide initial insights into the importance of women's condom use attempts, as well as subgroups of women who may encounter special challenges convincing their main partner to use condoms.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

A randomized controlled trial of an HIV sexual risk-reduction intervention for young African-American women.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of a community-based social skills human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention intervention to enhance consistent condom use. DESIGN: A randomized, single-blind controlled trial. SETTING: Bayview-Hunter's Point neighborhood of San Francisco, Calif, a predominantly African-American community that is economically disadvantaged. PARTICIPANTS: A sample of 128 sexually active, heterosexual, African-American women 18 through 29 years of age was recruited using street outreach techniques. Participants completed a structured baseline interview; 100 women (78.1%) completed 3-month follow-up interviews. INTERVENTION: Women randomized to the social skills intervention completed five sessions that emphasized ethnic and gender pride, HIV risk-reduction information, sexual self-control, sexual assertiveness and communication skills, proper condom use skills, and developing partner norms supportive of consistent condom use. Women randomized to the HIV education condition participated in a single session that provided HIV risk-reduction information. Women randomized to the delayed HIV education control condition received no HIV risk-reduction information until all follow-up interviews were completed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Consistent condom use, HIV risk-reduction knowledge, sexual self-control, sexual assertiveness, sexual communication, and partner norms supportive of consistent condom use. RESULTS: Compared with the delayed HIV education control condition, women in the social skills intervention demonstrated increased consistent condom use (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 2.1; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.03 to 4.15; P = .04), greater sexual self-control (adjusted OR, 1.9; 95% CI, 1.00 to 3.60; P = .05), greater sexual communication (adjusted OR, 4.1; 95% CI, 1.67 to 10.01; P = .002), greater sexual assertiveness (adjusted OR, 1.8; 95% CI, 1.01 to 3.27; P = .05), and increased partners' adoption of norms supporting consistent condom use (adjusted OR, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.08 to 3.87; P = .03). No statistically significant differences in outcome variables were observed between the HIV education condition relative to the delayed HIV education control condition. CONCLUSION: Community-based HIV risk-reduction programs that are gender relevant and culturally sensitive and provide social skills training can effectively enhance consistent condom use.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Relational experiences of partnered Japanese immigrant women with affect disorders.

AIM: This paper reports the findings of a study that explored characteristics of relationships of Japanese immigrant women partnered both intraculturally and interculturally, and analysed the role of Japanese culture in these relationships. BACKGROUND: Immigration can cause shifts in interpersonal structures with partners. When there are large discrepancies in gender roles and communication styles between the original and host cultures, the psychological impact on both partners may be significant. However, currently no empirical data are available to support this assumption. METHODS: Ten cases selected from the 68 medical records of Japanese-speaking women seen at a mental health clinic from September 2001 to September 2004 were analysed. All of the 10 women met DSM IV-TR criteria of major depressive disorder and were taking antidepressants. Half of the 10 women were in intimate intercultural partnered relationships and the remainder of the matched cases were in intracultural relationships at the time of treatment. The two cohorts were matched in age (36.2 and 43.2 years), length of stay in the United States of America (12 and 16.2 years), and length of treatment (1.2 and 1 years). The length of time of the sample in individual psychodynamic psychotherapy ranged from 20 to 317 hours, depending on the intensity of therapy. FINDINGS: Inductive data analysis revealed two themes: (1) Lack of awareness of differences in culturally bound communication by Japanese women in intercultural partnerships; (2) Lack of individuality in Japanese women in intracultural partnerships. Neither group appeared to consider relational aspects of partnership, or to make efforts to improve direct communication with their partners. CONCLUSION: The influence of Japanese culture on gender role and communication styles functions contrary to the mainstream Western culture of the United States of America. In the future, interpersonal elements of cultural differences between host and original cultures in immigration should be considered in research related to immigrants' mental health. This approach should lead to effective interventions to facilitate mental health among immigrants, and regardless of purposes of immigration or length of stay in a psychosocially foreign environment.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

A community-level HIV prevention intervention for inner-city women: results of the women and infants demonstration projects.

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the effects of a multisite community-level HIV prevention intervention on women's condom-use behaviors. METHODS: The theory-based behavioral intervention was implemented with low-income, primarily African American women in 4 urban communities. It was evaluated with data from pre- and postintervention cross-sectional surveys in matched intervention and comparison communities. RESULTS: At baseline, 68% of the women had no intention of using condoms with their main partners and 70% were not using condoms consistently with other partners. After 2 years of intervention activities, increases in rates of talking with main partners about condoms were significantly larger in intervention communities than in comparison communities (P = .03). Intervention communities also had significant increases in the proportion of women who had tried to get their main partners to use condoms (P = .01). The trends for condom use with other partners were similar but nonsignificant. CONCLUSIONS: Many women at risk for HIV infection are still not using condoms. Community-level interventions may be an effective way to reach large numbers of women and change their condom-use behaviors, particularly their behaviors with regard to communication with main sex partners.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Training volunteers as conversation partners using "Supported Conversation for Adults with Aphasia" (SCA): a controlled trial.

This article reports the development and evaluation of a new intervention termed "Supported Conversation for Adults with Aphasia" (SCA). The approach is based on the idea that the inherent competence of people with aphasia can be revealed through the skill of a conversation partner. The intervention approach was developed at a community-based aphasia center where volunteers interact with individuals with chronic aphasia and their families. The experimental study was designed to test whether training improves the conversational skills of volunteers, and, if so, whether the improvements affect the communication of their conversation partners with aphasia. Twenty volunteers received SCA training, and 20 control volunteers were merely exposed to people with aphasia. Comparisons between the groups' scores on a Measure of Supported Conversation for Adults with Aphasia provide support for the efficacy of SCA. Trained volunteers scored significantly higher than untrained volunteers on ratings of acknowledging competence [F(1, 36) = 19. 1, p < .001] and revealing competence [F(1, 36) = 159.0, p < .001] of their partners with aphasia. The training also produced a positive change in ratings of social [F(1, 36) = 5.7, p < .023] and message exchange skills [F(1, 36) = 17.6, p < .001 ] of individuals with aphasia, even though these individuals did not participate in the training. Implications for the treatment of aphasia and an argument for a social model of intervention are discussed.

Aphasia↗
PubMed2001

Correlates of adolescent females' worry about undesired pregnancy. the importance of partner desire for pregnancy.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine correlates of worry about pregnancy among a high-risk sample of low-income African-American adolescent females. Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that perceived male partner desire for pregnancy and level of sexual communication would be independently associated with adolescent females' worry about becoming pregnant. DESIGN: A survey of sexually active African-American adolescent females, 14-18 years of age. SETTING: Recruitment was conducted in low-income neighborhoods of Birmingham, Alabama, characterized by high rates of unemployment, substance abuse, violence, and teen pregnancy. PARTICIPANTS: Adolescents (N = 522) completed a survey and a face-to-face interview, and provided a urine specimen for pregnancy testing. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Nonpregnant adolescents reporting steady relationships with a male sex partner (over the past 6 months) and indicating no immediate desire to become pregnant were included in the analysis (n = 196). Two questionnaire items assessed level of worry about becoming pregnant. RESULTS: Compared to adolescent females reporting their partner did not desire pregnancy, those perceiving their partner desired pregnancy were nearly three times more likely to experience high worry about becoming pregnant (AOR = 2.85; P =.009). Engaging in sex unprotected by a condom was an equally important correlate of high worry (AOR = 2.84; P =.013). Level of communication between partners about pregnancy prevention was not significant. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescent females may experience high worry about becoming pregnant due to desires of their male partner as well as their recent sexual risk behavior.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Cooperative activities in young children and chimpanzees.

Human children 18-24 months of age and 3 young chimpanzees interacted in 4 cooperative activities with a human adult partner. The human children successfully participated in cooperative problem-solving activities and social games, whereas the chimpanzees were uninterested in the social games. As an experimental manipulation, in each task the adult partner stopped participating at a specific point during the activity. All children produced at least one communicative attempt to reengage him, perhaps suggesting that they were trying to reinstate a shared goal. No chimpanzee ever made any communicative attempt to reengage the partner. These results are interpreted as evidence for a uniquely human form of cooperative activity involving shared intentionality that emerges in the second year of life.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Sexual communication and contraceptive use in adolescent dating couples.

PURPOSE: This study had two aims: first, to examine the relationship between general sexual communication and contraceptive use in sexually active adolescent romantic couples, and second, to explore predictors of open communication from characteristics of adolescent couples and individual adolescents. METHODS: Data were drawn from 209 couples dating a minimum of four weeks who participated in the Study of Tennessee Adolescent Romantic Relationships. Seventy-three adolescent dating couples (ages 14-21 years) that engaged in sexual intercourse and completed a sexual communication questionnaire were included in current analyses. RESULTS: Nearly 30% of couples failed to use contraception at first intercourse and almost half of couples did not use contraception every time they had sex. More open communication about sex from both male and female partners was associated with increased contraceptive use. Additionally, adolescents who were more satisfied in their relationships reported more open communication about sex, and adolescent females who self-silenced reported less open communication about sex. Finally, mediation analyses revealed that boys' and girls' relationship satisfaction and girls' self-silencing indirectly predicted contraceptive use through their effects on general sexual communication. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first known study to address individual and dyadic components of sexual communication using reports from both members of established adolescent dating couples. Findings suggest that open sexual communication between intimate partners is important to sexual decision-making. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Partner notification in context: Swedish and Zambian experiences.

Partner notification is a public health strategy in which sexual partners of persons with a sexually transmitted disease (STD) are notified, counselled and offered services. According to recommendations published by the World Health Organization, partner notification should be voluntary, confidential and only undertaken when appropriate services are available. This paper communicates experiences from studies on partner notification in Sweden and Zambia and emphasizes the need for a contextualized approach to partner notification. In Sweden as well as in Zambia partner notification is an acknowledged strategy to prevent STDs. Methods must, however, be adjusted to the practical and cultural context in each country.

Confidentiality↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Let's talk about sex: how comfortable discussions about sex impact teen sexual behavior.

A secondary analysis of data from 1,039 Latino adolescents who participated in a study of a sex education program was conducted to examine the impact of comfortable communication about sex on intended and actual sexual behavior. Results indicate that Latino adolescents have a broad communicative network, including friends, dating partners, and extended family members, with whom they talk about sex. Regression analyses suggest comfortable sexual communication is predictive of less likelihood of being sexually active, older at first intercourse, and increased intentions to delay intercourse.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Why communication is crucial: meta-analysis of the relationship between safer sexual communication and condom use.

The purpose of this study was to quantitatively synthesize the growing literature on the relationship between safer sexual communication (SSC) among sexual partners and condom use, and to systematically examine a number of conceptual and methodological moderators of this relationship. Data from 53 articles published in 27 journals met criteria for the study. Fifty-five independent effect sizes coded from samples totaling N=18,529 were meta-analyzed. Results indicate that the mean sample-size weighted effect size of the SSC-condom use relation was r=.22, and a number of conceptual variables were found to moderate this relationship. Specifically, communication about condom use (r=.25) and sexual history (r=.23) had significantly (p<.05) larger effect sizes than communication about safer sex (r=.18). In addition, SSC measures operationalized differently had significantly (p<.05) different effect sizes. From largest to smallest, these were behavioral format (r=.29), intentional format (r=.18), and self-efficacy format (r=.13). Measures that tried to assess persuasion attempts as compared with informational exchanges were not found to have significantly different effect sizes (p>.05). Further, methodological moderators tended to be unrelated to effect size. Implications for the future study of safer sexual communication as well as the importance of emphasizing communication skills in HIV preventive interventions are discussed.

Condoms↗
PubMed2001

Multiple personalities: synaptic target cells as introverts and extroverts.

The intricate process of wiring a neuronetwork requires a high degree of accuracy in the communication between pre- and post-synaptic cells. While presynaptic cells have been widely recognized for their dynamic role in synaptic matchmaking, post-synaptic cells have historically been overlooked as passive targets. Recent studies in the Drosophila embryonic neuromuscular system provide compelling evidence that post-synaptic cells participate actively in the synaptogenic process. Endocytosis allows them to quickly modify the array of molecular cues they provide on their surfaces and the extension of dynamic filopodia allows post-synaptic cells to engage in direct long-distance communication. By making use of familiar cellular mechanisms such as endocytosis and filopodia formation, post-synaptic cells may be able to communicate more effectively with potential synaptic partners.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Dissection of a surface-exposed portion of the cAMP-CRP complex that mediates transcription activation and repression.

The Escherichia coli cAMP receptor protein (CRP) is essential for the activation and repression of transcription initiation at promoters in the CytR regulon. CRP performs these activities by making direct protein-protein interactions to the alpha-subunits of RNA polymerase and to the CytR regulator. Strikingly, it has been shown that amino acids of CRP that are critical for communication with the two partner proteins are located in close proximity on the surface of CRP. Here, we have dissected this surface in order to pinpoint the 'repression region' of CRP and to assess whether it overlaps with the characterized 'activating region'. Our results established that residues 12, 13, 17, 105, 108 and 110 are essential for the interaction with CytR and confirmed that 'activating region' 2 of CRP is made up of residues 19, 21 and 101. In the crystallographic structure of the CRP-DNA complex, the two sets of determinants are located immediately adjacent to each other forming a consecutive surface-exposed patch. The 'repression region' is chemically complementary to the characterized region on CytR that is essential for protein-protein communication to CRP. Moreover, the results provide insight into the mechanism by which CytR might prevent CRP-mediated transcription.

Alanine↗
PubMed2001

[Partner interactions and coping activity of migraine patients].

Empirical studies suggest that an inefficient, negative communication could represent a source of stress in the patient's everyday life and that this kind of communication would also imply chronic migraine. The present study used the "Kategoriensystem für partnerschaftliche Interaktion (KPI)" to determine whether the communication patterns of 12 women with migraine and their partners differed from 12 women with chronic headache and their partners and 12 healthy couples. The communication was video-filmed during the about 10 min lasting interaction in a personally relevant conflict situation. As predicted, women with migraine and their partners made more negative and fewer positive statements than the couples with tension headache and the control dyads. Furthermore, a higher load in female migraine sufferers compared to normal controls was indicated by coping activity.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1982

Distressed couples with and without a depressed partner: an analysis of their verbal interaction.

Depression in married individuals can be seen as the result of a self-perpetuating interpersonal system in which the information processes between marital partners is distorted. In order to study this theoretical formulation, we used a category system to analyze verbal interactions in distressed couples with or without a depressed partner. Our results show that communication in depressed couples is more uneven, negative, asymmetrical and centred on somatic and psychological complaints. The non-depressed partners in these couples perceived themselves as positive, but evaluated their depressed partners negatively. In the non-depressed couples there were no negative asymmetries and their interaction was even, supportive and positive. The results are discussed in an interactional framework based on social learning theory.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Sexual consent behaviors in same-sex relationships.

Consent is a key issue in defining sexual coercion yet few researchers have analyzed sexual consent attitudes and behaviors and, to date, there has been no published research examining sexual consent within same-sex relationships. The main objective of this study was to identify which behaviors people use to ask for and to indicate sexual consent to their same-sex partner(s). A Same-Sex Sexual Consent Scale was developed to measure both initiating and responding consent behaviors in same-sex relationships. Data were collected using an on-line survey from 257 participants (127 men, 130 women). The participants reported using nonverbal behaviors significantly more frequently than verbal behaviors to indicate consent. Exploratory factor analysis for the Initiating and Responding subscales resulted in four factors for each subscale. The four factors for the Initiating Subscale were nonverbal behaviors involving touch, no resistance behaviors, verbal behaviors, and nonverbal behaviors without touch. The factors for the Responding Subscale were no resistance behaviors, verbal behaviors, nonverbal behaviors, and undressing behaviors. There were no significant differences in the initiating behaviors used by men who have sex with men (MSM) and women who have sex with women (WSW); however, when responding to initiating behavior, MSM reported using significantly more nonverbal signals than did WSW. The scale that was developed in this study should be useful for other researchers who wish to study the topic of sexual consent.

Adult↗