Human immunodeficiency virus-related risk behavior among African-American females

This study draws attention to the demographic shift in the population of HIV-infected African Americans from young, low-income, unmarried homosexual, and injecting drug users to female, heterosexual, higher income, and older persons. We used data from the 1995 Survey of Family Growth, sponsored by the National Center for Health Statistics, to examine the patterns of HIV-related risk behavior (consistent condom use, number of sexual partners, sex education in birth control methods) among African-American females. We found that only 33.3% of the African-American females had indicated that their partners always used condoms; 23.8% had seven or more lifetime sexual partners; and nearly 30% did not have any sex education in birth control methods, sexually transmitted diseases, or abstinence. In addition, African-American females who had partners who had not used condoms in the last 12 months were less likely than those who reported occasional condom use to perceive that they were infected with HIV (21.1% vs. 33.1%). These risk factors were prevalent among low-income African-American females with low socioeconomic status (SES) as well as black women with higher SES who lived in smaller cities and suburbs. These results highlight the need for HIV prevention strategies that cut across socioeconomic class, gender, sexual orientation, and place of residence.