Sexual Partnerships Among African American Women

描述(申请人提供)：虽然15至24岁的年轻人只占有性经验的人口的四分之一，但他们几乎占所有新发的性传播疾病(STD)的一半。由于生物、行为和文化因素，这一群体感染艾滋病毒和性传播疾病的风险增加。文献表明，与男性相比，女性更有可能报告伴侣同时有性关系，分别为17%和8%。由于非裔美国女性中艾滋病毒和艾滋病病例的流行比例高得令人震惊，最近的研究指出了同时存在的影响，以解决这种种族和性别差异。同时拥有性伙伴关系会增加性伴侣之间传播性病的可能性。在性传播疾病和艾滋病毒感染率较高的性伴侣网络中发生性行为进一步增加了性传播的风险。这项研究的目的是探索和理解在18至25岁的年轻非裔美国女性中异性伴侣拥有多个或同时存在的性伴侣的背景。这项研究是基于社会认知理论中所描述的性别、权力和结果期望或激励的理论。其具体目的是1)了解年轻人同时发生性关系的原因，2)确定和了解在同时发生性关系的情况下避孕套的使用情况，以及3)提出一个框架，以了解非裔美国年轻女性同时发生性行为的背景和相关因素。将从一项正在进行的研究中挑选妇女，并邀请她们参加本研究。这项研究将招募40名18至25岁的非裔美国年轻女性参加为期45至60分钟的半结构化面试。面试成绩单将使用NVivo 8.0软件进行编码，计算评分者之间的协议，并对出现的主题使用主题编码。在完成半结构化面试后，将收集定量数据，并将招募新的非裔美国女性样本(n=250)。这项计算机化的调查包括自我报告的性传播病史、性史、自我报告的性行为，以及与性伙伴关系、并发性、伴侣变量、药物和酒精使用、抑郁、教育和收入相关的信念和态度。本研究将提出一个基于显著预测并发性的因素的路径模型。这项研究将通过考察基于性别和权力理论和社会认知理论的其他因素来为文献做出贡献。调查数据将使用SPSS 17.0进行分析，路径模型将使用LISREL 8.0进行分析。 与公共卫生相关：同时发生性关系已被确定为艾滋病毒和性病传播增加的一种方式。本研究建议使用半结构化访谈(n=40)和计算机化调查(n=250)，对非裔美国年轻女性的并发背景进行混合方法检查。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Although young people ages 15 to 24 years represent only a quarter of the sexually experienced population, they represent nearly half of all new sexually transmitted diseases (STD). This group is at increased risk for HIV and STD acquisition due to biological, behavioral, and cultural factors. Literature indicates that women, compared to men, are significantly more likely to report a partner having concurrent sexual partnerships, 17% versus 8% respectively. With the alarmingly disproportionate prevalence of HIV and AIDS cases among African American women, recent research points towards the impact of concurrency to address this racial and gender disparity. Having concurrent sexual partnerships increases the likelihood of STD transmission among partners. Having sex within a network of partners with high STD and HIV rates further increases the risk of STD transmission. The goal of this research is to explore and understand the context of having multiple, or concurrent, sex partners among young African American women aged 18 to 25 in heterosexual partnerships. This study is grounded in the theory of gender and power and outcome expectancies, or incentives, as described in the social cognitive theory. The Specific Aims are to 1) understand the reasons young adults engage in concurrent sexual partnerships, 2) identify and understand condom use in the context of concurrent sexual partnerships, and 3) propose a framework for understanding the context of and factors related to concurrency among African American young women. Women will be selected from an ongoing study and invited to participate in the present study. The study will recruit African American young women (n=40) aged 18 to 25 years to participate in semi-structured interviews lasting 45 to 60 minutes. Interview transcripts will be coded using Nvivo 8.0 software, calculating inter-rater agreement and using thematic coding for themes that emerge. Quantitative data will be collected after completing the semi- structured interviews and will recruit a new sample (n=250) of African American women. The computerized survey includes measures of self-reported STD history, sexual history, self-reported sexual behaviors, as well as beliefs and attitudes related to sexual partnerships, concurrency, partner variables, drug and alcohol use, depression, education, and income. The study will propose a path model based on factors significantly predictive of concurrency. This study will contribute to the literature by examining additional factors based on the theory of gender and power and social cognitive theory. Survey data will be analyzed using SPSS 17.0 and path models will be analyzed using LISREL 8.0. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Concurrent sexual partnerships have been identified as a mode of increased HIV and STD transmission. This study proposes to conduct a mixed methodology examination of the context of concurrency among African American young women, using semi- structured interviews (n=40) and computerized surveys (n=250).