Relationship among gender, depression, and needle sharing in a sample of injection drug users.

The authors explored the relationships among gender, needle sharing, and depression in a sample of 392 male and 121 female street drug users. Using the Risk Behavior Assessment (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 1991) and the Beck Depression Inventory-2 (A. T. Beck, R. A. Steer, & G. K. Brown, 1996), the authors found that women reported higher levels of depression than men and that sharers endorsed higher levels of depression than nonsharers. Further, the authors found that female sharers reported the highest levels of depression of all groups, that is, as compared with male sharers, female nonsharers, and male nonsharers, who did not differ from one another. This suggests the presence of a special dynamic between gender and depression that is related to higher rates of needle sharing among women.

[1]  M. Stein,et al.  Depression among needle exchange program and methadone maintenance clients. , 2000, Journal of substance abuse treatment.

[2]  H. McCoy,et al.  Violence and HIV sexual risk behaviors among female sex partners of male drug users. , 1998, Women & health.

[3]  L. Green,et al.  Health Promotion Planning: An Educational and Environmental Approach , 1991 .

[4]  J. Black,et al.  Sharing of needles among users of intravenous drugs. , 1986, The New England journal of medicine.

[5]  A. Fenaughty,et al.  Sex partners of Alaskan drug users: HIV transmission between white men and Alaska Native women. , 1998, Women & health.

[6]  David J. A. Dozois,et al.  A psychometric evaluation of the Beck Depression inventory-II , 1998 .

[7]  W. Hawkins,et al.  Depressive Symptoms and HIV-Risk Behavior in Inner-City Users of Drug Injections , 1998, Psychological reports.

[8]  Mark E. Johnson,et al.  Reliability of Drug Users' Self-Reported HIV Risk Behaviors and Validity of Self-Reported Recent Drug Use , 1994 .

[9]  W. Hall,et al.  Injecting and sexual risk-taking behaviour among regular amphetamine users. , 1995, AIDS care.

[10]  C. Latkin,et al.  Depressive symptoms, drug network, and their synergistic effect on needle-sharing behavior among street injection drug users. , 1999, The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse.

[11]  S Magura,et al.  Determinants of needle sharing among intravenous drug users. , 1989, American journal of public health.

[12]  D. Vlahov,et al.  Correlates of needle sharing among injection drug users. , 1994, American journal of public health.

[13]  Mark E. Johnson,et al.  Self-reported levels of psychopathology of drug abusers not currently in treatment , 1996 .

[14]  H. Klee,et al.  Factors associated with risk behaviour among injecting drug users. , 1990, AIDS care.

[15]  C. Latkin,et al.  Social network characteristics and injecting HIV-risk behaviors among street injection drug users. , 1997, Drug and alcohol dependence.

[16]  J. Watters,et al.  Syringe and needle exchange as HIV/AIDS prevention for injection drug users. , 1994, JAMA.

[17]  B. Strickland,et al.  Women and depression: Risk factors and treatment issues: Final report of the American Psychological Association's National Task Force on Women and Depression. , 1990 .

[18]  C. Latkin,et al.  Depression as an antecedent of frequency of intravenous drug use in an urban, nontreatment sample. , 1993, The International journal of the addictions.

[19]  J. Gorman,et al.  Psychopathology in male and female HIV‐positive and negative injecting drug users: longitudinal course over 3 years , 1997, AIDS.

[20]  H. Siegal,et al.  Needle transfer among injection drug users: a multilevel analysis. , 1998, The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse.

[21]  S. Dinwiddie.  Characteristics of injection drug users derived from a large family study of alcoholism. , 1997, Comprehensive psychiatry.

[22]  J. Soet,et al.  The Effects of Ethnicity and Perceived Power on Women's Sexual Behavior , 1999, Psychology of women quarterly.