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Cocaine-Dependent Adults and Recreational Cocaine Users Are More Likely Than Controls to Choose Immediate Unsafe Sex Over Delayed Safer Sex

Koffarnus, MN; Johnson, MW; Thompson-Lake, DGY; Wesley, MJ; Lohrenz, T; Montague, PR; Bickel, WK; (2016) Cocaine-Dependent Adults and Recreational Cocaine Users Are More Likely Than Controls to Choose Immediate Unsafe Sex Over Delayed Safer Sex. Experimental And Clinical Psychopharmacology , 24 (4) pp. 297-304. 10.1037/pha0000080. Green open access

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Abstract

Cocaine users have a higher incidence of risky sexual behavior and HIV infection than non-users. Our aim was to measure whether safer-sex discount rates, a measure of the likelihood of having immediate unprotected sex versus waiting to have safer sex, differed between controls and cocaine users of varying severity. Of the 162 individuals included in the primary data analyses, 69 met DSM-IV-TR criteria for cocaine dependence, 29 were recreational cocaine users who did not meet dependence, and 64 were controls. Participants completed the sexual delay discounting task, which measures one’s likelihood of using a condom when immediately available and how that likelihood decreases as a function of delay to condom availability with regard to four images chosen by the participants of hypothetical sexual partners differing in perceived desirability and likelihood of having a sexually-transmitted infection. When a condom was immediately available, stated likelihood of condom use sometimes differed between cocaine users and controls, which depended on the image condition. Even after controlling for rates of condom use when immediately available, the Cocaine Dependent and Recreational Users groups were more sensitive to delay to condom availability than controls. Safer-sex discount rates were also related to intelligence scores. The sexual discounting task identifies delay as a key variable that impacts the likelihood of using a condom among these groups and suggests that HIV-prevention efforts may be differentially effective based on an individual’s safer-sex discount rate.

Type: Article
Title: Cocaine-Dependent Adults and Recreational Cocaine Users Are More Likely Than Controls to Choose Immediate Unsafe Sex Over Delayed Safer Sex
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1037/pha0000080
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1037/pha0000080
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: sexual discounting task; cocaine dependence; recreational users; HIV risk behavior; impulsivity
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Developmental Neurosciences Dept
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10080693
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