The impact of incarceration on partner selection norms and HIV

描述(申请人提供)：美国新增艾滋病毒感染者中有一半是非洲裔美国人。经过几十年对个人因素的研究，调查人员得出结论，个人行为不足以解释艾滋病毒感染率的种族差异。因此，研究人员转向关注影响艾滋病毒危险行为的社会因素。监禁是这样一个因素，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联系，已经提出了多种理论。为了验证对该协会提出的一种解释，申请者将在马里兰州巴尔的摩的非裔美国人社区进行一项基于社区的调查。在巴尔的摩，超过一半的年轻非裔美国人男性被监禁或以其他方式参与刑事司法系统，这个大都市地区的艾滋病毒感染率在全国排名第五。非裔美国男性被监禁使男性伴侣稀少，对许多男性来说，同时与多名女性发生性关系可能会成为常态。认为几乎没有男性伴侣的看法可能会促进这样一种信念，即男性在性关系中比女性拥有更大的权力，从而导致避孕套的使用和艾滋病毒感染的减少。将从巴尔的摩高贫困、高艾滋病流行地区招募男性和女性成年人，作为CDC全国艾滋病毒行为监测系统研究的一部分，研究对象是艾滋病毒感染高危的异性恋者。参与者将接受艾滋病毒检测，一份标准化的问卷将从750名参与者那里收集有关性行为、药物使用、监禁状态以及其他行为和伴侣特征的信息。在巴尔的摩市性病诊所进行的一项试点研究中，将制定衡量同时发生性关系的社会规范的量表。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，将使预防计划能够改变社会环境，并最终改变个人艾滋病毒风险。

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.