Concurrency and Other Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Black Young Adults in a Southeastern City

AIDS Educ Prev. 2016 Feb;28(1):59-76. doi: 10.1521/aeap.2016.28.1.59.

Abstract

Black Americans continue to have higher rates of HIV disease than other races/ethnicities. Conventional individual-level risk behaviors do not fully account for these racial/ethnic disparities. Sexual concurrency may help explain them. Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) was used to enroll 508 sexually active 18- to 30-year-old Black men and women in Durham, North Carolina in a cross-sectional survey on HIV-related topics. Consistent condom use was low for all participants, especially with steady partners. Concurrent partnerships in the past 6 months were relatively common for both men (38%) and women (25%). In general, men involved in concurrent relationships engaged in more risk behaviors than other men (e.g., inconsistent condom use and alcohol and drug use). A majority of concurrent partnerships involved steady partners. HIV-prevention programs should address the risks of concurrency and factors that discourage condom use, especially with steady partners with whom condom use is particularly low.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Black or African American / psychology*
  • Black or African American / statistics & numerical data
  • Condoms / statistics & numerical data*
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Female
  • HIV Infections / epidemiology
  • HIV Infections / prevention & control*
  • HIV Infections / psychology
  • Humans
  • Male
  • North Carolina / epidemiology
  • Risk-Taking
  • Sexual Behavior / ethnology
  • Sexual Behavior / psychology*
  • Sexual Behavior / statistics & numerical data
  • Sexual Partners / psychology*
  • Substance-Related Disorders
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Young Adult