Gender Ratio Imbalance Effects on HIV Risk Behaviors in African American Women

"Although literature suggests that African American women are no more likely to engage in risky sex than their White counterparts, they are more likely to have sex partners with higher HIV risk. Thus, it is not solely an individual’s behavior that determines their risk, but also the behavior of their partner and their position within a sexual network. For this reason, it is important to consider the dynamics of heterosexual relationships in the African American community. An important area of concern regarding African American heterosexual relationships is that of partner availability. A shortage of available African American men for potential partnerships exists and is reportedly due to poorer health and higher mortality rates. Some have argued that gender-ratio imbalance may be responsible for increased HIV vulnerability for African American women. This article reviews the literature on gender ratio imbalance and HIV risk in the African American community, and presents implications and suggestions for future research and intervention...

...African American women are influenced by their relationships with their men and their broader social and institutional contexts (Bell, Bouie, & Baldwin, 1990). Future prevention and intervention efforts focusing on this group of women must account for their HIV risks relative to the particular dynamics at play within their sexual networks and the psychosocial drivers influencing their risk for HIV infection (i.e., desire for romantic partnerships). For this reason, the unique experience of African American women deserves a more targeted approach. HIV prevention and education in the form of culturally based approaches may be the most effective motivators for behavior change in this community (Airhihenbuwa et al., 1992). Gender-based theories such as those outlined above can provide a strong foundation for addressing prevention in this group. Combining these theories with a community-based participatory research approach would provide researchers with more insight into the underlying phenomena driving situational risk factors that affect the risk behaviors of these women. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods would help us better understand the ways in which the gender ratio imbalance and low partner availability affect African American women’s sexual risk where marriage, family, and motherhood are culturally valued and the relatively segregated sexual network presents a higher risk for HIV acquisition. Strategies aimed at increasing women’s awareness of the greater risk for individuals by virtue of their belonging to a particular race and sexual network could also enhance current prevention strategies in the African American community, as African American women tend to underestimate their risk for HIV infection (Neblett et al., 2011). The unique experiences of African American women deserve a more targeted approach. An eye toward gender coupled with a cultural lens may magnify the often overlooked variables that can prove most salient in identifying how and why HIV persists as a leading cause of death for African American women."

Full article at:  http://ht.ly/SXwyn 

By: Valerie Newsome, MS1 and Collins O. Airhihenbuwa, MPH, PhD1

1Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

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