Developed by Robert Connell, the theory of gender and power is a social structural theory based on existing philosophical writings of sexual inequality and gender and power imbalance. According to the theory of gender and power, there are three major social structures that characterize the gendered relationships between men and women: the sexual division of labor, the sexual division of power, and the structure of cathexis. The aim of this article is to apply an extended version of the theory of gender and power to examine the exposures, social/behavioral risk factors, and biological properties that increase women's vulnerability for acquiring HIV. Subsequently, the authors review several public health level HIV interventions aimed at reducing women's HIV risk. Employing the theory of gender and power among women marshals new kinds of data, asks new and broader questions with regard to women and their risk of HIV, and, most important, creates new options for prevention.

Application of the Theory of Gender and Power to Examine HIV-Related Exposures, Risk Factors, and Effective Interventions for Women

Context. Contemporary threats to adolescents9 health are primarily the consequence of risk behaviors and their related adverse outcomes. Identifying factors associated with adolescents9 risk behaviors is critical for developing effective prevention strategies. A number of risk factors have been identified, including familial environment; however, few studies have examined the impact of parental monitoring. Objective. To examine the influence of less perceived parental monitoring on a spectrum of adolescent health-compromising behaviors and outcomes. Design. Survey. Setting. A family medicine clinic. Participants. To assess eligibility, recruiters screened a sample of 1130 teens residing in low-income neighborhoods. Adolescents were eligible if they were black females, between the ages of 14 and 18 years, sexually active in the previous 6 months, and provided written informed consent. Most teens (n = 609) were eligible, with 522 (85.7%) agreeing to participate. Main Outcome Measures. Variables in 6 domains were assessed, including: sexually transmitted diseases, sexual behaviors, marijuana use, alcohol use, antisocial behavior, and violence. Results. In logistic regression analyses, controlling for observed covariates, adolescents perceiving less parental monitoring were more likely to test positive for a sexually transmitted disease (odds ratio [OR]: 1.7), report not using a condom at last sexual intercourse (OR: 1.7), have multiple sexual partners in the past 6 months (OR: 2.0), have risky sex partners (OR: 1.5), have a new sex partner in the past 30 days (OR: 3.0), and not use any contraception during the last sexual intercourse episode (OR: 1.9). Furthermore, adolescents perceiving less parental monitoring were more likely to have a history of marijuana use and use marijuana more often in the past 30 days (OR: 2.3 and OR: 2.5, respectively); a history of alcohol use and greater alcohol consumption in the past 30 days (OR: 1.4 and OR: 1.9, respectively); have a history of arrest (OR: 2.1); and there was a trend toward having engaged in fights in the past 6 months (OR: 1.4). Conclusions. The findings demonstrate a consistent pattern of health risk behaviors and adverse biological outcomes associated with less perceived parental monitoring. Additional research needs to focus on developing theoretical models that help explain the influence of familial environment on adolescent health and develop and evaluate interventions to promote the health of adolescents.

Parental Monitoring: Association With Adolescents' Risk Behaviors

OBJECTIVES: This study assessed the relation of socioeconomic status (SES), family structure, and race/ethnicity to adolescent sexual behaviors that are key determinants of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). METHODS: The 1992 Youth Risk Behavior Survey/Supplement to the National Health Interview Survey provided family data from household adults and behavioral data from adolescents. RESULTS: Among male and female adolescents, greater parental education, living in a 2-parent family, and White race were independently associated with never having had sexual intercourse. Parental education did not show a linear association with other behaviors. Household income was not linearly related to any sexual behavior. Adjustment for SES and family structure had a limited effect on the association between race/ethnicity and sexual behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: Differences in adolescent sexual behavior by race and SES were not large enough to fully explain differences in rates of pregnancy and STD infection. This suggests that other factors, including access to health services and community prevalence of STDs, may be important mediating variables between SES and STD transmission and pregnancy among adolescents.

The association of sexual behaviors with socioeconomic status, family structure, and race/ethnicity among US adolescents.

This article is focused on examining social and contextual factors related to HIV-risk behavior for women. Specifically, this article has three main purposes: to review the literature on selected social and contextual factors that contribute to the risk for the heterosexual transmission of HIV and AIDS, to review and conduct a meta-analysis of HIV-prevention interventions targeting adult heterosexual populations, and to suggest future directions for HIV-prevention intervention research and practice. Results suggest that the HIV-prevention interventions reviewed for this article had little impact on sexual risk behavior, that social and contextual factors are often minimally addressed, and that there was a large gap between research and the practice of HIV-prevention intervention.

Women, sex, and HIV: Social and contextual factors, meta-analysis of published interventions, and implications for practice and research

Recent research has highlighted the significant contribution families make in the prevention of HIV risk behaviors among adolescents As the most proximal and fundamental social system influencing child development, families provide many of the factors that protect adolescents from engaging in sexual risk behaviors Among these are positive family relations, effective communication about sexuality and safer sexual behaviors, enhancement and support of academic functioning, and monitoring of peer activities HIV risk behaviors occur in a social context, and it is becoming clear that the earliest and most effective way to intervene is in the context where one initially learns about relationships and behavior—the family Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute for Mental Health have taken steps to support and emphasize research that will further elucidate our understanding of the role of families in HIV prevention This article uses Ecodevelopmental Theory to guide and organize the findings of this promising research area Within this context, and with special attention to the comorbidity of adolescent problem behaviors, this article reviews empirical research on the role of families in HIV prevention, discusses current intervention efforts that involve families and ecosystems, and addresses prospects and implications for future research and interventions

The Role of Families in Adolescent HIV Prevention: A Review

Teenagers are at higher risk for sexually transmitted infection than other age groups for a variety of behavioral, biological, and psychosocial reasons. This article discusses the importance and trends of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in teenagers, factors affecting the trends in adolescent STDs, implications of STDs for the future health of adolescents, and implications for activities directed at control of STDs in this high-risk group.

Cates W

Papers

The Epidemiology and Control of Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Adolescents.