It’s an unfortunate but established fact of sexual wellness that certain subgroups are more likely to transmit or develop sexually transmitted infections (STIs) or diseases (STDs) than others. However, what’s less clear is why this is the case. According to numerous studies, African American women are more at risk to sexually transmitted infections, including HIV and Aids, and now a new study has set out to determine what motivates this group of women to have sex, and when they are more likely to use protection.
Researchers of a study published in the SAGE journal Health Education and Behaviour discovered that African American women are expected to use a condom in less than 50% of all types of sexual encounters, including the riskiest types of sex. This was found to be the case regardless of a woman’s motivations for having sex. For the study, which was lead by Julianna Deardorff, the team of researchers used a combination of interviews and focus groups to delve deeper into the reasons for low condom use and HIV transmission.
African American women with low incomes took part in the study. The average age of the participants was 20.4 years old, and the mean number of sexual partners in the past month was 1.2. Many of the participants said that they expected to use condoms the least when they felt pressured to have sex. This means, for example, on occasions where they were inexperienced or felt controlled by peers or sexual partners into having sex. When it came to why they were motivated to have sex, the participants labelled love, feelings and fun as their top three reasons for having sexual encounters.
The results of the study led the authors to turn to sexual health education, teaching on the implications that sex may have on your emotional wellbeing, and a higher availability of condoms to combat the high rates of STIs and HIV infection among African American Women. They said that their ‘findings highlight the need for tailored interventions to increase condom use in casual relationships, where perceived risk is already high, and in primary relationships, where motivations for condom use may be low.’ They added, ‘Interventions that address mediators of sexual risk, including self-esteem and coping, may be more effective than those focusing solely on risk perceptions.’
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Why Are Certain Ethnic Groups More Likely to Have HIV?
