Teenagers, dating violence and disease.

Teenage women's patterns of STD testing and diagnosis may be related to their experience of dating violence. (1) One-third of sexually active Massachusetts women participating in the 1999 and 2001 Youth Risk Behavior Surveys had ever been sexually or physically hurt by a date. Some 33% had been tested for an STD, including HIV, and 5% had received a diagnosis. Compared with nonabused women, those reporting only sexual violence were more likely to have been tested for STDs (odds ratio, 1.9), but not to have been infected; those reporting only physical violence had increased odds of having been tested for an STD other than HIV (1.6) and of having had an STD, including HIV (2.2). The odds of testing for STDs other than HIV, of testing for both HIV and other STDs, and of receiving a diagnosis were elevated among women who had experienced both types of violence (2.4-3.0). Commenting on these findings, analysts suggest that women who are sexually abused by a date may have "singular incidents outside of relationships" that lead them to seek testing, whereas those experiencing only physical violence may be "chronically exposed to coercive sex" that they do not perceive as abusive. Women experiencing both types of violence, meanwhile, may have the most contact with medical settings and be the most likely to disclose abuse.

(1.) Decker MR, Silverman JG and Raj A, Dating violence and sexually transmitted disease/HIV testing and diagnosis among adolescent females, Pediatrics, 2005, 116(2):e272-276, <www.pediatrics.org/cgi/doi,10.1542/peds.2005-0194>, accessed Aug. 11, 2005.