The impact of incarceration on partner selection norms and HIV

描述（由申请人提供）：美国一半的新感染艾滋病毒的人是非裔美国人。经过数十年对个体因素的研究，研究人员得出结论，个体行为不足以解释艾滋病毒感染率的种族差异。因此，研究人员将注意力转向了影响艾滋病毒风险行为的社会因素。监禁就是这样一个因素，它不成比例地影响非裔美国人个人、家庭和社区的健康，并与艾滋病毒感染有关。关于监禁率和艾滋病毒感染率之间的关系，人们提出了多种理论。为了验证一种对这种联系的解释，申请人将在马里兰州巴尔的摩的非裔美国人社区进行一项以社区为基础的调查。巴尔的摩有一半以上的非洲裔年轻男子被监禁或以其他方式卷入刑事司法系统，该大都市地区的艾滋病感染率在全国排名第五。非洲裔美国男性的监禁使得男性伴侣稀缺，对许多男性来说，同时与多名女性发生性伙伴关系可能变得很正常。很少有男性伴侣的观念可能会促使人们相信男性在性关系中比女性更有权力，从而导致较少使用避孕套和感染艾滋病毒。本研究的具体目的是：1)开发并验证用于衡量并发性伙伴关系社会规范的量表；2)评估社会心理因素（关于并行性伙伴关系的规范、伴侣可获得性的感知和关系权力）是否与艾滋病毒行为风险因素（如避孕套使用和并行性伙伴关系）相关；3)评估这些社会心理因素是否解释了监禁与艾滋病毒感染之间的关系。男性和女性成年人将从巴尔的摩的高贫困、高艾滋病流行地区招募，作为CDC国家艾滋病毒行为监测系统研究的一部分，研究艾滋病毒感染高风险的异性恋者。参与者将接受艾滋病毒检测，一份标准化的问卷将收集750名参与者关于性活动、吸毒、监禁状况以及其他行为和伴侣特征的信息。衡量同时发生性伴侣的社会规范的量表将在巴尔的摩市性病诊所的一项试点研究中开发。国家研究重点支持致力于理解性危险行为的社会背景的研究。确定社会因素如何影响艾滋病毒感染率将有助于制定能够改变社会环境并最终改变个人艾滋病毒风险的预防方案。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Half of new HIV infections in the United States are among African-Americans. After decades of research focused on individual factors, investigators have concluded that individual behaviors are insufficient to explain the racial disparity in HIV rates. As a result, researchers have turned to focus on social factors that influence HIV risk behaviors. Incarceration is one such factor that disproportionately affects the health of African American individuals, families, and communities, and is associated with HIV infection. Multiple theories have been proposed about the association between incarceration rates and HIV rates. To test one proposed explanation for the association, the applicant will conduct a community-based survey in African American communities in Baltimore, Maryland. More than half of young African-American men in Baltimore are incarcerated or otherwise involved in the criminal justice system, and the metropolitan area has the fifth highest HIV rate in the nation. The incarceration of African-American males makes male partners scarce, and concurrent sexual partnerships with multiple females may become normal for many men. The perception that few male partners are available may promote the belief that men have more power than women in sexual relationships, resulting in less condom use and HIV infection. The study specifically aims to: 1) develop and validate scales to measure social norms about engaging in concurrent sexual partnerships; 2) assess whether psychosocial factors (norms about concurrent partnerships, perception of partner availability, and relationship power) are associated with behavioral risk factors for HIV, such as condom use and concurrent sexual partnerships; and 3 )assess whether these psychosocial factors explain the relationship between incarceration and HIV infection. Male and female adults will be recruited from high- poverty, high-AIDS prevalence areas in Baltimore as part of the CDC National HIV Behavioral Surveillance System study of heterosexuals at high risk of HIV infection. Participants will be tested for HIV, and a standardized questionnaire will collect information from 750 participants about sexual activity, drug use, incarceration status, and other behavioral and partner characteristics. The scale measuring social norms about engaging in concurrent sexual partnerships will be developed in a pilot study in the Baltimore City STD Clinics. National research priorities support research dedicated to understanding the social context of sexual risk behaviors. Identifying how social factors can impact HIV rates will allow for prevention programs that can alter the social environment and ultimately individual HIV risk.