ECPN Student Poster Contestant: Substance Use for Sex Among a Sample of Substance Abuse Recovery Clients

Introduction: The combination of sex and drugs, including alcohol and illicit drugs, increases risk for negative sexual health outcomes and may hinder recovery from drug addiction. Sex and drug use may become linked and mutually reinforcing. Literature has suggested expectations of sexual benefits of the combination of sex and drugs may be associated with actual co-occurrence. Better understanding of this association is imperative for interventions aimed at reducing co-occurrence, especially among individuals already suffering from drug addiction. The study examined whether expectations regarding the effect of drugs on sex predict likelihood of co-occurrence among substance abuse recovery clients.

Methods: Substance abuse recovery program clients (N=42) completed a self-administered questionnaire about sexual and drugs risks. The sample ranged in age from 21-57 years and mostly identified as heterosexual (85.7%), male (76%), White (64.3%), with a high school diploma (76.3%), and single (59.5%). Two 9-item measures were used to understand sex and drug-linked behaviors. The first (Cronbach’s alpha .86) measured expectations regarding the sexual benefits of sex and drug co-occurrence such as “drinking or drugs help me relax when having sex.” The second (Cronbach’s alpha .95) measured likelihood of drug use in sexual situations such as “how likely would you be to use alcohol or drugs to increase sexual enjoyment”. Spearman correlations examined the relationship between the measures, and the measures and basic demographics. Multiple linear regression examined the relationship between the measures controlling for demographics.

Results: Expectations of sexual benefits from drug use correlated with likelihood of engaging in drugs with sex in bivariate analysis (r=.67; p<.000) and multivariate analysis (Beta =.79, p<.000). None of seven basic demographic characteristics were correlated with these measures.

Conclusion: This study suggests that measures of expectations regarding sexual benefits of sex and drug co-occurrence and likelihood of co-occurrence have high internal consistency and are strongly correlated. Expectations regarding sexual benefits from drugs warrants further examination as a predictor of sex and drug co-occurrence in drug rehabilitation clients. Such expectations may ultimately be found predictive. If malleable through education, reducing them offers a strategy for prevention of sex and drug co-occurrence and related sexual outcomes.