frequency) are not the most important AIDSISTD risk factors. Sexual behavior may be ... in Latin America, and third only to the Bahamas (306.32) and .... About 30% of men aged 25-29 reported drug use ..... Lower-class men might never marry.
JOURNAL OF WOMEN'S HEALTH Volume 2, Number 3, 1993 Mary Am Liebert, Inc., Publishers
Gender Power Differences Between Parents and High-Risk Sexual Behavior by Their Children: AIDSISTD Risk Factors Extend to a Prior Generation W. PENN HANDWERICER, Ph.D.
ABSTRACT
Objectives: To assess intergenerational linkages between gender power differences, family violence, sexuality, and high-risk sexual behavior. Design: A national survey of Barbados, West Indies, carried out in 1990, coupled with data collected by participant-observation during 28 months of field research. Participants: Numerical selected randomly from all analyses based on data from 407 heterosexual men and women aged 2-5 socioeconomic strata of the national popalation of Barbados. Main Oukome Measures: Sexual precociousness measured as the number of years of sexual activity prior to age 20, sexual mobility prior to age 20 and during three succeeding 5-year age periods (20-24,25-29, and 30-34), m d a history of sexually transmitted disease (STD). Results: Historical constraints on job opportunitiesestablished gender power differentialsthat subjected Barbadian women and their children to high levels of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. Children who grew up in these exploitative environments started sexnal activity early a d , in adolescente, established a pattern of high sexual mobility which continued through their early 30s. Their activities created a self-perception of "promiscuity," a view of sexuality that declares some positions and activities as respectable and some not, men who demand specialized sexual services and women who choose to meet this demand, and men who don't use condoms and spread STDs. Conclusions: Gender power differentials may create a distinctivesyndrome of social and health pathologies encompassing physical, emotional, and sexual abuse of women and children and, in the next generation, high-risk sexual behavior.
INTRODUCTION
I
n the United States, Human immunodeficiency virus ( W ) / autoimmune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemiology initially called attention to intravenous (IV) drug use and ethnic (Haitians) and sexual (homosexual men) minorities. However, HIVIAUDS is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) and heterosexual transmission is rising throughout the world, including the United States.! Indeed, AIDS has become the leading cause of death among women aged 20-40 even in some pattern I areas, where homosexualmen and IV drug users have been the primary population groups affected.' Rising prevalence of HIVIAIDS among women is partly explained by proximate transmission factors. Male-to-female transmission appears far more efficient than female-to-male
transmi~sion.~ Prior infection with any STD may increase the risk of HIV tran~mission.~ Women may experience greater risks of STD than men, particularly during adolescence. These factors do not explain why, in the United States, for example, HIVIAIDS is most common among poor black and HispanicILatina women.7 Nor do these factors explain why high-risk behavior intervention so often has little impact.' This may be because proximate behavioral practices (condom use, number of sexual partners, and types of sexual activity and their frequency) are not the most important AIDSISTD risk factors. Sexual behavior may be a function of gender relations. Gender relations may be functions of the relative power of men and women; and the relative power of men and women in one generation may profoundly influence the risk of STD in the generation of their children.
Program in Anthropology, Hunrboldt State University, Arcata, California.
576
HANDWERKER This paper presents evidence that gender power differences between parental caregivers influence two key AIDSISTD risk factors among their children: condom use and sexual mobility, defined as the number of different sexual partners a person has during specific periods. Gender-biased employment opportunities cmated homes characterized by a high prevalence of family violence. Children who grew up in these exploitative environments started sexual activity early and, in adolescence, established a pattern of high sexual mobility, which continued through their early 30s. Their activities created a self-perception of "promiscuity," a view of sexuality that declares some positions and activities as respectable and some not, men who demand specialized sexual services and women who chwse to meet this demand, and men who don't use condoms and spread STDs.
METHODS Study population This paper reports data collected from and generalized to the national population of Barbados, West Indies.
Procedures
.
Numerical analyses focus on data collected through an islandwide random sample of 407 men and women aged 20-45 in 1990. Social and cultural analyses bse ethnographic data collected during 28 months of field research in 1985, 1986, 1990, 1991, and 1992 as one part of an ongoing historical study of gender relations on the West Indian islands of Antigua, Barbados, and St. Lucia. Inquiries ranged across subjects including sexual behavior; STDs (ethnomedical as well as western biomedical concepts); gender relations during childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age; child rearing practices; intergenerational relations (particularly relations between fathers and sons, fathers and daughters, stepfathers and their stepchildren, mothers and sons, mothers and daughters, and stepmothers and their stepchildren); different forms of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse; growing up in households with fathers, without fathers, or with stepfathers; ways to show affection and warmth; helping behavior between people of the same or different genders; and men's and women's beliefs and attitudes towards others of the same or different gender. I collected Triads data on sexual behavior, STDs, and relationships (such as those between husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend, and man-friend and woman-friend). The study design focused on profound generational changes documented elsewhere9 to examine patterns of gender inequality, family violence, and sexuality in two adjacent generations: (1) the current younger generation of men and women aged 20 through their early 40s who grew to maturity after major structural change in the Barbadian economy, and (2) the older generation of their parents. Violence experienced by children links gender inequality and family violence in a generation of parents to high-risk sexual behavior in the generation of their children.
Research reported here was possible primarily because HIVl AIDS has become a widely discussed topic 9n Barbados in recent years. The cumulative AIDS incidence rate in Barbados was 89.88 pet 100,000 as of 1990, twice as high as any country in Latin America, and third only to the Bahamas (306.32) and Puerto Rico (188.6) in the Caribbean." Sexual behavior now constitutes a legitimate topic for public discussion and social research. Nearly everyone is willing to talk about sexuality and sexual behavior. Many people are willing to talk openly about their own sexual behaviors. Pwple readily give information about their personal sexual histories (including histories of sexual abuse) if they can do so anonymously, even if they won't talk openly about these subjects. All informants and survey respondents were free to refuse an interview, to stop an interview, or to say that certain information they provided should not be subsequently reported. The only inducement I offered to informants was that they could ask anything they wished, and I would answer openly and honestly or tell them I would not respond. I asked informants to respond in the same manner. In the island-wide survey, Barbadian research assistants explained the nature of the research but respondents filled out anonymous questionnaires privately and sealed the completed questionnaires in unmarked envelopes. Survey research assistants carried with them bags that contained a minimum of six sealed envelopes identical to those given respondents. After they filled out the questionnaire, respondents mixed their sealed envelopes with those already in the bags. The survey response rate was about 80%. Control variables. I measured a wide range of control variables identified by prior studies. These variables included age, use of illicit drugs, " family-of-orientation composition (particularly the preseoce or absence of father or absence rearing during an early sensitive-learning period'2 and being r;lised by a stepfatherI3), social class backgro~nd,'~quality of relationships between parental caregivers and between caregivers and children,I5 and socioeconomic status and strains between partners. '' Data on who served as a survey respondent's adult caregivers, plus how long the respondents lived with individual caregivers, provided the basis for measuring whether or not a child was raised in a stable home, solely by his or her mother, by foster parents, or by a stepfather. Only 37% grew up in stable nuclear families, living with both biological mother and father from birth through age 15. Sixteen percent were raised by foster parents, mostly grandparents or aunts and uncles. Only 1% were raised by unrelated foster parents. One-quarter grew up in homes without a resident male caretaker, in which the mother either had no relationships with men or maintained only visiting relationships. Thirteen percent grew up with stepfathers. Only 0.25% (one person) grew up with a stepmother. In all, only 14% of the sample grew up in homes with an unrelated adult caretaker. For simplicity, I used "mother" and "father" as generic terms for female and male caregivers. Educational attainment was measured with the following ordinal scale: 0 for no schooling, 1 for incompleted primary schooling, 2 for completed primary schooling, 3 for secondary schooling without completed O'level examinations, 4 for secondary schooling with completed O'level examinations, 5 for completed A'level examinations, 6 for an incomplete college or
GENDER POWER DIFFERENCES IN AIDSISTD RISK FACTORS university education, and 7 for a completed bachelor's degree (or higher). Seventy-five percent of the sample reported mothers who had not passed primary school; 71% of fathers had similarly not passed primary school. Only about 6% of fathers and mothers had passed secondary school O'level examinations, or had moved farther in school. I used detailed descriptions of the work undertaken by adults, together with background ethnographic data, to rank occupations. I assigned a 1 to men's occupations such as farmer, fisherman, cook, and guard, and to women's occupations such as farmer, fishboner, hawker, and maid. I assigned a 2 to men's occupations such as mason, stevedore, and mechanic, and to women's occupations such as garment worker, hairdresser, and midwife. I assigned a 3 to men's occupations such as foreman, supervisor, and bookkeeper, and to women's occupations such as secretary, clerk, and receptionist. I assigned a 4 to men's occupations such as real estate agent, accountant, and newswriter, and to women's occupations such as accountant, nurse, and teacher. I assigned a 5 to men's occupations such as headmaster and overseer, and to women's occupations such as bank supervisor and restaurant owner. I assigned a 6 to men's occupations such as physician and to women's occupations such as government officer. Sixty-four percent of the s m e reported that their mothers worked outside the home. I measured family social class from couples' joint educational and job status variables. The presence of domestic service workers provided an additional basis for identifying homes in the upper class or the highest levels of the middle class. In this ' sample, lower-class membership is synonymous with poverty. About 75% of the sample grew up in lower-class homes. Twenty-two percent grew up in middle-class homes with parents who had relatively high educational levels and good jobs that paid well. Just under 4% grew up in upper-class homes. I measured status inconsistencies as a couple's difference in job status and as a couple's difference in educational status. Men had educational levels or a job status equal to or higher than their partners in about 90% of the relationships described for both the senior and junior generations. Yet significant disparities in educational and job status, which could contribute to ambiguous role expectations and family conflict, existed in all social classes. The status inconsistency variables used in analyses reported later are 0 if the educational or job status of men was equal to or greater than their partners, and 1-5 depending on how greatly the educational or job status of a woman superseded that of her partner. I measured illicit drug use with a generic question about the use of crack cocaine, marijuana, or both, during four age periods: Prior to age 20, 20 through 24, 25 through 29, and 30 through 34. Crack cocaine and marijuana constitute the only - illicit drugs used with any frequency on the island. Ethnographic data suggest that about half of all current drug users use crack, or both crack and marijuana. The aggregate prevalence rate for illicit drugs was about 4%. However, drugs became widely available only during the 1980s; widespread use was reported only by those who grew to adulthood during the 1980s. About 20% of men aged 20-29 reported drug use prior to age 20; only 1% of men aged 30 and over reported drug use during their adolescence. About 30% of men aged 25-29 reported drug use in their early 20s; only 6% of men aged 30 and over reported
303
drug use in their early 20s. Drug use among women shows equivalent trends, although far lower use-rates: only about 5 4 % of younger women report drug use in adolescence or their early 20s. A National Epidemiological Survey carried out in 1992 confirmed these findings from the 1990 survey." Theoretical variables. Key variables measured in this research included gender power differences, affectionate and empowering behavior between partners and between parents and children, emotional and physical abuse, childhood sexual abuse, sexual precociousness, sexual mobility prior to age 20 and during three subsequent five-year age periods. condom use, and a history of STD. Key scales measuring (1) physical and emotional abuse of women by their partners, (2) physical and emotional abuse of children by their parents, (3) affectionate and empowering interactions between partners, and (4) affectionate and empowering interactions between parents and children, described below, exhibited good-to-excellent levels of reliability and validity. '' I measured gender power inequalities and other theoretically important variables with criteria stipulated by resource access t h e ~ r y , ~which . ' ~ provided a deductive conceptual framework for this research. This theory concludes that selection must favor any innovation that improves or optimizes resource access. The theory thus stipulates that choices to believe or act in particular ways should exhibit patterns predictable by the relative costs of resource access; it is theoretically irrelevant whether behavior and belief "choices" occur consciously, unconsciously, rationally, irrationally, or arationally. The theory identifiespower as emanating from the need of one person (or organization) to access resources through another (a gatekeeper). Gatekeepers optimize or improve their resource access by exploiting people dependent on them fgr access to resources. Thus, resource access theory affirms Lord Acton's dictum: The probability that one person will exploit another should be a function of their relative power. A gatekeeper's power should rise with the importance of the resources to which he or she controls access and as the number of people who seek access to those resources increases. A gatekeeper's power should vary inversely with the number of alternative resource access channels. Thus, I measured a person's power with indicators of his or her ability to bypass the control of gatekeepers andlor to control access to resources needed by others. By virtue of size differences, in all human populations men generally have more power than women and adults generally have more power than children.20v2' Maturation and aging reverses the size-based power differentials between children and their parents. In both generations studied here, from their adolescence to the last years of their reproductive period, Barbadian women could offset men's power with (1) ties to family or friends who can provide a place to stay and money, and (2) well-paying employment together with the education to justify that employment. In the senior generation of women, who experienced greater restrictions on housing than their daughters, owning the house in which they lived also offset men's power. In the parental generation this paper addresses, only 20.4% of mothers had good jobs together with the requisite educational qualifications, 38.5% had family or friends who could help with money and a place to stay, and 47.9% owned their own homes.
HANDWERKER TaRre 1 , ~ O ~ W OF ~ FA SF F E ~ O N AAND T E VIOLENT INTERACTION: PARENTAL GENERATION -
Sources of affection Variable
Coqficient
t
P (2-tail)
8.979 3.376 5.036 6.535
10.726 3.835 4.807 7.478
0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
Constant Mother owns house Mother's power index: has good job with requisite education Mother has family or friend who can help
N : 365; !-djusted R :' 0.250. Average Level of Estimation E m : 7.9 points on a 32 point scale. Test of No: p, = 0.00 for all control variablesa = 1.276, P = 0.237 Maximum condition index: 22.122, F,,
,.,,
Sources of violence Binary dependent variable (N = 352): Physical andlor emotional abuse of mother by her partner 95.0% Bounds Variable Reverse degree of affection to mother Mother does not have family or friend who can help Mother does not have a job plus requisite education
OR
t
P-value
Upper
Lower
1.085 2.743 2.137
5.243 3.874 2.332
0.000 0.000 0.020
1.119 4.570 4.047
1.052 1.646 1.052
Log-likelihood (LL) test of N,: P, = 0.00 for all control variables Poverty and social statusb Unrestricted LL: 108.133, df: 9, Chi-squared: 8.264, P: 0.219 Socioeconomic strainsC Unrestricted LL: 109.767, df: 8, Chi-squared: 9.898, P: 0.078 "Control variables: age, gender of survey respondent, lower-class home, job status of mother's partner, job status of mother, mother not working, educational level of mother's partner, educational level of mother, difference between mother's and mother's partner's educational levels, difference between mother's and mother's partner's jab status, difference in educational levels for lower-class families, difference in job status for lower class families. bControlvariables: lower-classhome, job status af mother's partner, job status of mother, mother did not work, educational level of mother's partner, educational level of mother 'Control variables: difference between mother's and mother's partner's educational levels, difference between mother's and mother's partner's job status, difference in edtlcational levels for lower-class families, difference in job status for lower-class families. I defined physical, emotional, and sexual abuse as means of exploitation. Table 1 reports results from a test of two hypotheses. The first is that gender equality between women and their partners elicited affection from their partners. The second is that gender inequality elicited violence, On Batbados, physical battering encompasses a wide range of behavior. Open-handed slaps and cuffs or close-fisted hits or punches, collectively called "sharing licks" or "taking hand to she," probably are most common. Women also endure outright beatings with hands, belts, shoes, and other implements; choking; having their hair grabbed and pulled; having boiling water thrown over them; and being kicked and pummelled with stones, bottles, and other objects. Emotional battering encompasses accusatory and demeaning remarks that call into question women's intelligence, competence, and integrity. These include "You are a fucking idiot," "you are stupid," "can't you ever do anything right?" "you arsehole," and "[when] you have a
problem, you always handle it wrong." At the slightest hint that a woman may, be interested in or involved with another man, which might be read merely from her being away from the house when her partner calls or irrrives, or from having been seen talking with another man, she may be called a "slut," "bitch," or "worthless." Married women may be told "you stole my name" or "I married the wrong woman." I assessed physical abuse by asking survey respondents how often a woman was hit, beaten, or hurt physically in other ways. Emotional abuse was assessed from responses to questionsabout how often a woman was the subject of demeaning remarks. Direct questions were asked about specific forms of behavior; respondents were not asked to make judgments about the behavior they reported." I asked survey respondents how their mother was treated by her (primary) partner. I wded answers on a five-point ordinal scale from 0 ('%ever'') to 4 ("all the time"). I weighted emotional abuse equally with physical abuse and
GENDER POWER DIFFERENCES IN AIDSISTD RISK FACTORS added the scores for emotional and physical abuse to create a single measure of abuse. The battering variable ranged from 0 to 24. On average, women in the parental generation were subject to moderate levels of physical and/or emotional battering (mean = 4.8, SD = 6.4). Whether or not a woman is battered emotionally and physically occasionally is a more important question theoretically and clinically than is the question of how intensely she is abused. I counted as abused any woman whose partner verbally demeaned her "sometimes" or more often. Any woman whose partner physically abused her in any way, even if only "rarely" was also counted. Thus, I rejected the proposed23,24 distinction between "battering" as abusive and "beating" as a benign ("culturally relative"?) form of "physical reprimand." Resource access theory suggests that physical violence applied even once exploits the person to which it was applied. If physical violence of any kind applied with any frequency constitutes a tool of exploitation, physical violence applied even once should generate significant behavioral effects. By these criteria, among the mothers of the survey respondents, one woman in two was subject to at least moderate levels of physical and/or emotional battering by her partner; one woman in three was subject to high levels of battering (battering scale values of 8-15), and one in five was subject to intense, continuous abuse (battering scale values of 16 or higher). Affectionate and empowering behavior occurs independently of abusive behavior. I assessed empowering behavior with a series of eight questions that asked how often a woman's partner made decisions with her rather than for her, treated her as an equal, spent his free timewith her, hugged her or touched her in loving ways, did things or said things that made her feel special and important, talked with her and respected what she said, encouraged her to do special things with her life; and actively helped her do these things. I coded answers to these questions with the same five-point scale used for questions about physical and emotional abuse. I summed the responses to questions about affectionate and empowering interactions to create a measure of the quality of relationships between partners. This variable ranged from 0-32 (mean = 15.8, SD = 9.3). The mean of about 16 scale points means that women averaged about two ("sometimes") on the affection scale items. Thus, on the average, Barbadian women in the parental generation experienced only minimally adequate levels of affectionate behavior from their partners. Figure 1 presents a multidimensional scaling analysis of the key variables to show that violence and affection constitute two distinct patterns of family interaction. The analysis includes the variables analyzed in Table 1, plus pertinent childhood treatment scales: The degree to which a child received affection from hisfher mother (MEMP; range: 0-20, mean = 13.7, SD = 5. I), the degree to which a child received affection from hisher father ( F E W range: 0-20, mean = 10.3, SD = 6.2), the degree to which a child was subject to violence by hislher mother (MDIS; range: 0-14, mean = 2.7, SD = 2.5), the degree to which a child was subject to physical and emotional violence by hisfher father (FDIS; range: 0-16, mean = 2.0, SD = 2.8), and whether or not the person was sexually abused prior to age 20 (SEXABUS). I measured child abuse with the series of four questions described earlier, which asked about slappinghitting, beating,
WOMEN Stress
=
Stress
=
.04: N
=
233
MEN .08; N
=
125
FIG. 1. Multidimensional scaling analyses of variables measuring affection, violence, and mother's power.
other forms of physical abuse, and verbal abuse. I coded answers on a five-point ordinal scale from 0 ("never") to 4 ("all the time"). I asked men and women how their mothers (or other female caregivers) treated them. I asked men and women separately how their mothers' partners (if any) treated them. On Barbados, "discipline" can take many forms.25 In the generation investigated, deprivation punishments such as sending a child to his or her room, or cutting down on a child's activities assume the existence of a physical and social infrastructure that often did not exist. Nearly always, disciplinary
measures entailed verbal or physical punishments. Verbal discipline ranged from talking with children, to scolding them, to yelling at them. Verbal discipline, even yelling, can be phrased in ways which range from instructive to demeaning. The men and women reporting on the frequensy with which their fathers or mothers said things that made them feel bad about themselves refer to comments such as "you are a blasted fool" or "you fucking idiot" or "you arsehole." These words demean children as they do adults addressed the same way. Respondents who reported such comments "regularly" or "all the time" can be said fairly to have been emotionally abused as children. Physical disciplinary measures ranged from slaps and spankings, to "lashes" administered with plaited branches, belts, shoes, or other implements. Occasional slaps or, more rarely, lashes are well within the normal range of physical disciplinary measures parents used on Barbados. When any of these occur "regularly" or "all the time," it is fair to conclude that the person reporting such behavior was physically abused as a child. I summed the score for the questions about abusive behavior to create a measure of the intensity of child abuse. But determining whether or not child abuse occurs occasionally is more important theoretically as well as clinically. I classified as abused any child who reported that any form of abuse occurred "regularly" or"all the time." By these criteria, one person infour reported childhood physical and emotional abuse. I measured sexual abuse with a series of questions that asked about sexual contact between a child and his or her parent, stepparent, or parental partner that included breast or genital touching or sexual intercourse, any equivalent sexual activity which occurred prior to age 16 with an adult partner (defined operationally as a person five or more years older), and rape (unwanted sexual activity) at any age, in accordance with Barbadian usage. "Incest" was identified in accordance with Barbadian usage as sexual abuse by a biological parent or sibling. Thus I identified "sexual abuse" as sexual activity between unequal partners. The power differential given by significant differences in size, experience, andlor positions of authority means that one partner cannot freely choose to participate in activity controlled by the more powerful partner. The age Barbadian men and women initiate sexual activity ranges widely, from 9-34 for women and 8-28 for men. However, sexual activity normally begins in adolescence. Nearly 50% of women reported beginning sexual activity by kge 16, and 92% began by age 20. Approximately 50% of men reported beginning sexual activity by age 15, and 94% began by age 20. Most early sexual activity does not constitute sexual "abuse" because it occurs between children, approximately coequals in both age and experience. Only two percent of the men described their childhoods in ways that classified them as sexually abused. However, nearly one woman in three reported sexual abuse before age twenty. Just as resource access theory leads to the expectation that powerful people will exploit powerless people, it also leads to the expectation that exploited people will develop e m p o w e ~ g strategies. People exploited as children should develop empowering strategies based on the primary dimensions of family power relationships, age, and gender. People sexually exploited by those of opposite sex should learn to use sexual behavior to empower themselves. Beginning sexual activity early creates a means to escape an exploitative home environment. High sexual
mobility (having many sexual partners) creates alternative channels to resources, which increases a person's power relative to his or her gatekeepers. Plausibly, women exploited as children by men and men exploited as children by women come to expect exploitation in heterosexual relationships as the normal course of affairs. Such men and women characteristically experience intense needs for affection while simultaneously feeling extremely frightened and angry. Emotions like these appear to function proximately to propel both men m d women into and out of relationships; creating a pattern of high sexual mobility. Both men and women thus may reduce intense emotional pain while they achieve some control over their lives, which they do not otherwise experience. Table 2 shows how the hypothesis was tested that men and women exploited as children exhibit sexual precociousness. Tables 3 and 4 shows how the hypothesis was tested that men and women exploited as children develop a pattern of high sexual mobility that begins in adolescence. I measured sexual precociousness as the number of years of sexual activity during adolescence (prior to age 20). Sexual mobility was measured as the number of different sexual partners during adolescence (prior to age 20) and during 3 subsequent five-year periods (ages 20-24,25-29, and 30-34). Condom use was measured with an ordinal scale that ranged from 0 ("never") to 4 ("all the time"); analyses reported here use a dummy variable defined as 1(condom use "all the time") and 0 ("otherwise"). Fleisher et al. 26 point out that a generic question (e.g., "have you ever had ail STD?') inadequately assesses a prior history of STDs; the authors advocate asking a series of questions using specific STD labels. Cultural issues make the communication and measurement issues identified more comp l e ~ . ~I 'measured a history of STD with questions that asked about both clinical diagnoses and self-diagnoses involving both biomedical (e.g., syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia) and ethnomedical (e.g., clap, bore, bad blood) labels, and about a history of characteristic symptoms (e.g., genital ulcers, penile and vaginal discharge); individuals were coded positive for a history of STDs if they reported a positive response on any indicator. Table 5 shows how the hypothesis was tested that a history of STD is a function of a history of childhood exploitation.
Statistical analysis SYSTAT software generated the output reported hew. OLS regression was used for dependent variables measured with a ratio scale. Logistic regression was used for dependent variables measured as dummy variables. Cases with missing data were excluded from analyses reported below. For example, Tables 3 and4 present estimates for models of sexual mobility during four successive life trajectory periods: adolescence (before age 20), age 20-24, age 25-29, and age 30-34. The models were tested only for women or men who had passed the psvious life trajectory period (e.g., the model for the period age 30-34 only used data on women or men aged 35 and older), so sample size fell for each test. Several model variables measured interaction effects. For example, the variable labeled "Degree of Physical and Emotional Abuse by Stepfather" meaured the interaction between a binary variable (being raised by a stepfather = 1; not being raised by a stepfather = 0) and the scale measuring physical and emotional violence directed at a child by his or her adult male
307
GENDER POWER DIFFERENCES IN AIDSISTD RISK FACTORS TABLE2. SEXUALPRECOCIOUSNESS:YEARSOF SEXUALACI~VITY BEFORE AGE 20
-
Men
Variable Constant Sexual abuse survivor Illicit drug use during adolescence Age Mother's power index: mother has good job with requisite
Coeficient
t
P (2-tail)
7.149 3.200 1.789 -0.082 - 1.387
6.842 2.028 2.687 -2.690 -2.065
0.000 0.045 0.008 0.008 0.041
Co@cient
t
P (2-tail)
7.846 -0.269 1.974 0.219 -0.448 -0.959
8.777 -4.439 8.096 3.178 -3.647 -3.809
0.000 0.000 0.000 0.002 0.000 0.000
N : 136 ADJUSTED R ': 0.130; SEM: 2.688 years. Posthoc test of H,: P = 0.00 for all control variablesa Maximum condition index: 3 1.393 F(,,,,,=0.522, P=0.923 Women Variable Constant Age of menarche Sexual abuse survivor Degree of physical and emotional abuse by stepfather Educational attainment by age 20 Woman's power index: having a good job and requisite education
N : 250, ADJUSTED R ': 0.445 SEM 1.692 years. Posthoc test of H,: P = 0.00 for all control variablesb Maximum condition index: 40.646 F(,,,,,,=0.600 P=0.873 "Control variables: father-absent rearing, raised in lower-class homes, education of mother, education of father, job status of mother, job status of father, raised in stable nuclear family, raised solely by mother, raised with a stepfather, degree of affection mother's partner showed her, degree of physical and emotional abuse to mother, degree of affection M showed son, degree of affection M's partner showed son, degree mother physically and emotionally abused son, degree mother's partner physically and emotionally abused son. b ~ o n t r ovariables: l age, father-absent rearing, raised in lower-class home, education of mother, education of father, job status of mother, job status of father, raised in stable nuclear family, raised solely by mother, raised with a stepfather, degree of affection mother's partner showed her, degree of physical and emotional abuse to mother, degree of affection mother showed daughter, degree of affection mother's partner showed daughter, degree mother physically and emotionally abused daughter, degree mother's partner physically and emotionally abused daughter, mother use of illicit drugs during adolescence.
caregiver. People experiencing either no physical and emotional violence by a male caregiver or not being raised by a stepfather received codes of 0. Regression models presented below exhibited approximately normal, homoskedastic residuals. T-statistics tested the Null Hypothesis that individual independent variables have no influence on the dependent variable. Analysis of variance F-ratios tested the Null Hypothesis that all or particular sets of independent variables explain none of the variability in the dependent variable. The usual F-ratio applies to all independent variables, but is superfluous when one or more t-statistics are high and is not reported here. However, analysis of variance F-ratios are reported for subsets of control variables. Log-likelihood posthoc tests were used for logistic regression models. Condition indexes for some models suggested minor multicollinearity disturbances. With no exceptions, multicollinearity existed only between model variables and did not influence posthoc test findings.
RESULTS Gerlder equality elicits affection; gender inequality elicits violence Marsha Prio?' pointed out that "Caribbean women are often portrayed in the literature as independent, autonomous, and powerful decision makers." She showed that this image is illusory for Jamaican women in Kingston, who must endure high levels of family violence. This image is just as illusory for women on Barbados. Claims that West Indian women often are autonomous and independent fail to add that those who are either depend on support from middle- or upper-class fathers or, far mote often, are old and receive significant support from their sons. Joycelin MassiahZ9 pointed out that "women who head households are firmly placed among the disadvantaged sections of Caribbean populations." People subordinated to others always find ways to empower themselves. But women cannot be
HANDWERKER
308 TABLE3. WOMEN'SSEXUALM O B I L IT~ R A J ~ RFROM Y AWLESCENCETHROUGH AGE 30-34
Sexual mobility during adolescence Variable Constant Years of sexual activity before age 20 Years married before age 20 Incestuo~ssexual abuse survivor Degree of violence towards mother witnessed by incest survivor Sexual abuse survivor Degree of violence toward mother witnessed by sexual abuse survivor Illicit drug use before age 20
Coefficient
t
P (2-tail)
0.314 0.409 -0.217 7.466 -0.312 0.944 0.074 1.450
2.074 8.671 -2.482 7.676 -3.323 3.286 3.383 4.376
0.039 0.000 0.014 0.000 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.000
0.323 0.948 4.349 -0.558
2.167 16.752 2.741 -4.841
0.032 0.000 0.007 0.000
0.843 0.502 9.696 -0.627
5.606 10.070 6.481 -5.698
0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
-0.443 1.396
-2.696 30.163
0.009 0.000
N : 253, Adjusted R 2: 0.635, SE: 1.423 partners. Sexmi mobility during Age 20-24 Constant Number of sexual partners during adolescence Incestuous sexual abuse survivor Degree of violence towards mother witnessed by incest survivor
N : 188, Adjusted R 2: 0.704, SE: 1.448 partners. Sexual mobility during age 25-29 Constant Number of sexual partners during age 20-24 Incestuous sexual abuse survivor Degree of violence toward mother witnessed by sexual abuse survivor N : 130, Adjusted R 2: 0.722, SE: 1.271 partners.
Sexual mobility during age 30-34 Constant Number of sexual partners during age 25-29
Posthoc tests of %: /3 = 0.00 for all control variables" Adolescence Maximum Condition Index: 28.483, F(,3,z,,,= 1.297, Pz0.216 Age 20-24 Maximum Condition Index: 32.677, F
