Heterosexual Women of Color and HIV Risk: Sexual Risk Factors for HIV Among Latina and African American Women

ABSTRACT

This paper examines sexual risk for HIV among 2,318 Latina (60%) and African American (40%) women with a steady male partner who were attending an urban outpatient clinic.

We compared ethnic groups on demographic characteristics (including being born in the U.S.) and sexual HIV risk factors (number of partners, history of sexually transmitted infection, condom use, and reported knowledge and perception of partner risk) while controlling for other demographic characteristics.

African American women were about 1.5 times more likely than Latinas to report five or more sexual partners in their lifetime, to report two or more partners in the past year, and to perceive their partners as being risky. African American women were about 2.5 times more likely than Latinas to have had a history of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). They were also nearly twice as likely as Latinas to report having used condoms with their main partner in the past 90 days.

Intervention strategies for HIV prevention must address ethnic/racial differences in sexual risk factors for HIV among Latina and African American women.

KEYWORDS:

• HIV/AIDS
• Hispanics
• Latinas
• African American women
• sexual risk factors
• condom use
• STIs