Socio-ecologic Correlates of HIV/AIDS-Related Sexual Risk Behavior of African American Emerging Adults

There is growing evidence showing that patterns of individual sexual risk behaviors are insufficient in explaining the disproportionate HIV/AIDS burden borne by African Americans. Instead, dynamic features of social, economic, political, and geographic contexts play a more determining role. However, not enough studies have examined the impact of multi-level factors including neighborhood-level influences on HIV/AIDS sexual risk among African American emerging adults using a socio-ecologic perspective. Anchored on the socio-ecologic framework, this study examines the collective role of relevant socio-ecologic determinants of sexual risk-taking among African American emerging adults. Results from both bivariate and multivariate analyses revealed that individual and neighborhood-level variables were significantly associated with sexual risk in our study population partially confirming the hypothesis of the study. Male gender, educational attainment, and neighborhood social disorder were the strongest predictors of sexual risk. Our findings contribute to the vast literature on sexual risk behavior patterns of young adults, and increasing evidence demonstrating the role of contextual factors as stronger predictors of sexual risk and HIV infection among at-risk youth. Our findings, however, underscore the need for further research on the pathways of HIV socio-behavioral vulnerability in this demographic group.