4228.0: Tuesday, October 23, 2001: 2:30 PM-4:00 PM

Oral Session

Power in Sexual Relationships: Focus on the U.S

An emerging public health priority is strengthening women’s ability to protect themselves from HIV/STDs and to negotiate safer sex behaviors with their heterosexual partners. Male condoms are currently the only widely accepted method for preventing the transmission of HIV and other STDs for sexually active individual. Some men are unwilling to use condoms and, due to gender-based power imbalances, some women may be unable to negotiate use. Several researchers have suggested that women are likely to have difficulty in negotiating safer sex strategies with their male partners because of perceived imbalances in relationship power. Findings from studies are, however, mixed and inconclusive. Some studies suggest that overall power imbalances in interpersonal relationships are not major obstacles to safer sex behaviors. Other studies suggest that powerlessness in sexual relationships increases the likelihood that condoms will not be used. Differences in findings may in part be attributed to how relationship power and dominance are conceptualized and the use of different samples and measures. Additional research is needed to improve understanding of the role relationship power and decision-making play in women’s safer sex behavior.
See individual abstracts for presenting author's disclosure statement.
Learning Objectives: Refer to the individual abstracts for learning objectives
Presider(s):Marie Harvey, DrPH
Discussant(s):Marie Harvey, DrPH
2:30 PMApplication of a theory of gender and power to understand women's risk of HIV
Gina Wingood, ScD, MPH
2:45 PMThe association between relationship power and safer sex behaviors: What do we know?
Cabral Rebecca, PhD
3:00 PMIssues in defining and conceptualizing power in HIV/STD research
Johanna Soet, MA, CHES
3:15 PMChallenges in measuring relationship power: The development and current applications of the Sexual Relationship Power Scale (SRPS)
Julie Pulerwitz, ScD
3:30 PMWho conveys the message and what do they think about power? Implications for intervention research and services delivery
Erica Gollub, DrPH
Sponsor:Population, Family Planning, and Reproductive Health
Cosponsors:HIV/AIDS; School Health Education and Services; Social Work; Socialist Caucus; Women's Caucus
CE Credits:CME, Nursing, Pharmacy, Social Work

The 129th Annual Meeting of APHA