Author: Miguelina I. LeónPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : African American women
Languages : en
Pages : 295
Book Description
Women of color, especially African Americans and Latinas, account for the majority of HIV incidence and prevalence among women in the United States. Most HIV infections among women are contracted through heterosexual contact. Consequently, promotion of consistent condom use is a key HIV prevention strategy. U.S. prevention interventions for women typically focus on changing individual behaviors. However, the literature has documented a number of key social determinants of HIV vulnerability among women, including socioeconomic status (SES) and social capital. Understanding how these distal and intermediary social factors affect individual sexual risk is crucial to developing effective structural HIV prevention interventions for women. The purpose of this study was to examine the independent and interactive effects of SES and social capital on condom use among African American and Latina women. The study applied a social determinants of health conceptual framework, drawing on Weber's theory of social stratification and elements of Bourdieu's, Coleman's, and Putnam's social capital theories. Secondary data analysis was conducted on a sub-sample of 370 women drawn from a non-random sample of 512 women participating in the Gender-Economic Model (GEM) study, who were HIV negative, 18 years of age and older, and residents of the San Francisco Bay area. The bivariate analyses showed that African American and Latina women differed significantly on age, income, educational attainment, seven of eleven social capital indicators, and vaginal sex with their non-main male partner. The reduced logistic regression model showed that the likelihood of consistent condom use increased as income increased, but decreased as past month sociability increased. Three interactions were also significant predictors. As income rose the effect of past year, and past month civic participation on consistent condom use decreased. However, as education rose the effect of past month sociability on consistent condom use increased. The education-sociability interaction had the strongest effect. The findings suggest that not all social capital is health protective. Moreover, the interactive effects of SES and structural social capital on consistent condom use were stronger than their independent effects. Implications for theory, research, social work practice, and policy regarding structural interventions are discussed.
