Psychosocial Factors That Contribute to HIV/Aids Risk Behaviors Among Young Black College Women

Bibliographic Data

ID2168207
AuthorsBinta Alleyne (0000-0002-5275-9292), John S Wodarski, John Wodarski
Year2009
Volume19
Issue2
Pages142-158
Publication date2009-03-23
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1091-1359 • E-ISSN: 1540-3556
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10911350802687117
OpenAlexW1964832670
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited47

African American women are disproportionately burdened by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Though African Americans represent only 12% of the population in the United States, more than 54% of HIV-positive women in the United States are of African American descent (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2003 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC Update: Critical need to pay attention to HIV prevention for women. Fact sheet prepared by the CDC March, 2003. [Google Scholar]). The bulk of HIV/AIDS research focuses on prevention for high-risk minority women and men who have sex with men, whereas young black college women are ignored as a risk group. Though this group may not have some of the common risk factors associated with HIV/AIDS such as poverty, injection drug use, or low levels of education, they still engage in behaviors that place them at risk for contracting HIV. This article examines risk factors that may explain young black college women's decisions to engage in unsafe sexual practices. It also provides an intellectual context for empirically based and theory-supported interventions geared toward this population. The bulk of the HIV/AIDS literature identifies all persons of African descent as African American. However, because not all persons of African lineage identify themselves as African American, the term black in this article is used in an effort to be inclusive of all individuals of African ancestry. The terms African American and black are used interchangeably throughout this article

African descent · Context (archaeology · Environmental health · Geography · Political science · Population · Poverty · Psychiatry · Psychological intervention · Psychosocial · Sociology · Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health · HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions · Homelessness and Social Issues · Medicine · Psychology · Demography · Gerontology

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