Characteristics of Age-Discordant Partnerships Associated with HIV Risk among Young South African Women

OBJECTIVE:

Sexual liaisons between older men and younger women have been linked to greater risk of HIV acquisition. This study aims to: 1) identify psychosocial and behavioral factors associated with age-discordant (partner ≥ 5 years older) versus age-concordant partnerships (-1<partner< 5); and 2) examine the association between partner age discordance and young South African women's sexual behavior.

METHODS:

We used generalized estimating equations to analyze responses from 656 sexually-experienced females (aged 13-20 years) from rural Mpumalanga province.

RESULTS:

Partner age discordance was associated with greater odds of reporting both more frequent sex and having a partner with concurrent partnerships. Age-discordant partnerships were associated with greater odds of: casual partnerships, having a partner with concurrent partnerships and more frequent intercourse (i.e., having sex at least 2 or 3 times per month). They were associated with lower odds of reporting condom use at last sex and always using condoms in age-discordant partnerships.

CONCLUSION:

Our findings suggest that a history of age-discordant partnerships, and to a lesser extent having an age-discordant partner, is linked to HIV risk among young South African women; however, the link between partner age discordance and HIV risk may be more strongly related to the characteristics of age-discordant partnerships than to characteristics of young women who form such partnerships.

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By:  Ritchwood TD1, Hughes JP, Jennings L, MacPhail C, Williamson B, Selin A, Kahn K, Gómez-Olivé FX, Pettifor A.

• 1 Department of Public Health Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC.  
• 2 Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA. 
• 3 Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute, Seattle, WA.
• 4 Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD. 
• 5 School of Health, University of New England, Armidale, NSW. 
• 6 Wits Reproductive Health & HIV Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. 
• 7 Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC.
• J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2016 Mar 11. 

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