A daily process investigation of alcohol-involved sexual risk behavior among economically disadvantaged problem drinkers living with HIV/AIDS

Alcohol use is believed to increase sexual risk behavior among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). As drinking and sexual risk acts often occur in the same social contexts, this association is difficult to confirm. In this study, electronic daily diaries were completed by 116 PLWHA over 5 weeks. This yielded a total of 1,464 records consisting of data pertaining to discrete occasions of anal and vaginal sex. Simultaneous within- and between-person multilevel analyses were conducted, including situational variables (partner type, partner serostatus, partner drinking) and individual difference variables (gender, level of alcohol dependence). The resulting model explains 27.5% of the variance and reveals that interactions among these situational and individual difference variables predict changes in the estimated rate of unprotected sex (US). Also, in defined contexts, the amount of alcohol consumed prior to sex significantly affects the rate of US among members of the sample. Implications are discussed.