there may be inherent biases in who was/not identified as potential study participants in Project
FAST. A good discussion of the issues pertinent to this issue may be found in Heckathorn
(1997), along with strategies that can be employed to minimize any bias that could result from
the use of a chain-referral sampling approach.
Summary
In summary, this study has shown that depression plays a key role in affecting “at risk”
women’s HIV-related risk practices. Although bivariate analyses showed depression to be
related directly to women’s risky behaviors (more depression = more risk), the multivariate
analyses we conducted revealed this relationship to be subordinate to that between condom-
related attitudes and HIV risk. Noteworthy here, however, is the fact that depression was one of
the main multivariate predictors of women’s condom-related attitudes. Therefore, it is best to
conceptualize depression as an important mediating variable in the variety of factors that
influence “at risk” women’s overall HIV-related risk practices. Because of its saliency as a
mediating variable, understanding the factors underlying such women’s levels of depression is
crucial, since alleviating these antecedent influences is likely, ultimately, to lead to reduced
behavioral risk. Accordingly, we examined the factors that heighten women’s risk for
experiencing depressive symptoms and discovered seven such factors. They were low levels of
religiosity, less closeness with family members, less support from family members during the
formative years, childhood sexual abuse, childhood emotional abuse, greater financial
difficulties, and more problems stemming from illegal drug use.
Convention