A Systematic Review of Black American Same-Sex Couples Research: Laying the Groundwork for Culturally-Specific Research and Interventions

Figures & data

Figure 1. Black same-sex couples systematic review PRISMA flow chart.

Table 1. Study and design characteristics

Author(s)	Publication Date	Journal	Journal Discipline	Temporal Design	Type of Data Analysis	Couple-level or Individual-level Analysis	Topic of Study
Applewhite & Littlefield	2015	Journal of Black Sexuality and Relationships	Interdisciplinary	Cross-sectional	Qualitative	Couple-level	Resilience and anti-resilience behaviors
Campbell et al.	2014	Archives of Sexual Behavior	Sexology	Cross-sectional	Qualitative	Couple-level	Condom decision-making processes
Dang & Frazer	2005	The Western Journal of Black Studies	Sexology	Cross-sectional	Quantitative	Individual-level	Sociodemographics of U.S. Black same-sex couples
Del Rio & Alonso-Villar	2019	Industrial Relations	Labor and employment	Cross-sectional	Quantitative	Individual-level	Occupational achievements of U.S. sample sex couples
DuBois et al.	2018	Journal of Black Sexuality and Relationships	Interdisciplinary	Cross-sectional	Quantitative	Individual-level	Partner-health associations
Edwards	2016	Deviant Behavior	Interdisciplinary	Cross-sectional	Quantitative	Individual-level	Relationship satisfaction
Glass	2014	Journal of GLBT Family Studies	Interdisciplinary	Cross-sectional	Qualitative	Couple-level	Rituals with extended families
Glass & Few-Demo	2013	Family Relations	Applied family studies	Cross-sectional	Qualitative	Couple-level	Couple-level social support
Gonzales & Ortiz	2015	American Journal of Public Health	Public health	Cross-sectional	Quantitative	Individual-level	Health insurance inequities
Mays et al.	1993	Journal of Homosexuality	Interdisciplinary	Cross-sectional	Qualitative	Individual-level	Associations between discrimination and health
McLean et al.	2003	The Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families	Couples and family counseling	Cross-sectional	Quantitative	Individual-level	Racial identity and relationship satisfaction
Moore	2008	American Sociological Review	Sociology	Longitudinal	Convergent mixed-methods	Both	Power relations
Tan, Campbell, et al.	2018	AIDS Patient Care and STDs	HIV/AIDS care	Cross-sectional	Qualitative	Both	Couple-level dynamics and multilevel challenges
Tan, Campbell, Tabrisky, et al.	2018	AIDS and Behavior	AIDS behavioral research	Cross-sectional	Qualitative	Couple-level	Dyadic HIV care engagement
Tan, Pollack, et al.	2018	AIDS and Behavior	AIDS behavioral research	Cross-sectional	Quantitative	Individual-level	HIV care engagement outcomes
Wu et al.	2015	Journal of Interpersonal Violence	Interpersonal violence	Cross-sectional	Quantitative	Individual-level	Substance use and intimate partner violence

Table 2. Sample characteristics

Author(s)	Gender Composition	Racial Composition	Geographic Location	HIV-status	Income/Employment	Educational Level	Mean Age in Years (Age Range)	Time in Relationship	Sample Type	Sample Size
Applewhite & Littlefield	Male	Black-Black couples	New York City	HIV+ and HIV- seroconcordant; HIV serodiscordant couples	52% employed	70% had at least some college	35.6 (no range reported)	66% in a relationship for at least 6 months; range = less than 3 months – more than a year	Convenience sample	20 Black couples
Campbell et al.	Male	31 couples with at least one Black partner (out of 47 total couples)	New York City and San Francisco	HIV- seroconcordant; HIV serodiscordant couples	53% employed	57% had at least some college	31 (18–66)	Mean of 3.6 years; range = 6 months – 20 years	Convenience sample	16 Black-Black couples; 15 Black-White couples (out of 48 total couples)
Dang & Frazer	Mixed	All couples with at least one Black partner	U.S. national sample	Not reported	Median annual income of Black male SS couples: $50 K; $40 K for Black female SS couples	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported	U.S. Census data, year 2000	85,000 Black same-sex “unmarried partners”
Del Rio & Alonso-Villar	Mixed	All couples with at least one Black partner	U.S. national sample	Not reported	Not reported	30% of Black lesbians had at least some college; 33% of Black gay men had at least some college	88% of Black lesbians age 54 or younger; 84% of Black gay men age 54 or younger	Not reported	American Community Survey, 2010– 2014 (5 waves)	1685 Black women & 1131 men in same-sex couples (part of a larger racially diverse sample)
DuBois et al.	Male	Black	Chicago	46.7% HIV-; 44.5% HIV+	31.8% employed	49.4% had at least some college	35 (18–58)	Not reported	Convenience sample	229 Black sexual minority men (62% in a same-sex couple)
Edwards	Male	Black-Black couples	U.S., state not reported	Not reported	Not reported	93% had at least some college	72% were 39 or younger; no mean age reported	88% in a relationship for at least 1 year; (range = less than a year to more than 10 years)	Convenience sample	19 couples representing 38 partners, and fourindividuals (their partners did not return a completed survey)
Glass	Female	Black-Black couples	New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., North Carolina, Maryland; Virginia	Not reported	90.9% employed	63.6% had at least some college	34.6 (27–49)	Mean of 5 years	Convenience sample	11 Black-Black couples
Glass & Few-Demo	Female	Black-Black couples	Major cities in the southeast and midwest	Not reported	Author wrote: “Majority” were employed (no statistic provided)	Author wrote: “Majority” were college educated (no statistic provided)	27–44; no mean age reported	Mean of 5 years	Convenience sample	11 Black-Black couples
Gonzales & Ortiz	Mixed	Black	U.S. national sample	Not reported	57% employed	26.9% of Black men had a college degree; 24.3% of Black women had a college degree	25–64; no mean age reported	Not reported	American Community Survey, 2010– 2014 (5 waves)	753 Black men (subsample) in same-sex couples; 1109 Black women (subsample) in same-sex couples
Mays et al.	Female	Black	U.S., state not reported	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported	26–60; no mean age reported	At least one year	Convenience sample	8 Black women in a same-sex relationships with other Black women
McLean et al.	Male	Black	Nine states and Washington, D.C.	Not reported	55% reported earning at least $20,000 a year	50% had at least a college degree	26–60; no mean age reported	Mean of 4.5 years	Convenience sample	67 Black men in same-sex couples
Moore	Female	All couples with at least one Black partner	New York City	Not reported	84.4% reported earning at least $30,000 a year	93.8% had at least some college	37.4 (24–61)	Mean of 3.2 years	Convenience sample	32 Black women, in same-sex couples, living in stepfamilies
Tan, Campbell, et al.	Male	All couples with at least one Black partner	San Francisco Bay Area	HIV+ seroconcordant couples; HIV serodiscordant couples	50% of sample reported earning $20,000 or less a year	Not reported	48.8 (no range reported)	Mean of 6.6 years	Convenience sample	14 Black couples
Tan, Campbell, Tabrisky, et al.	Male	All couples with at least one Black partner	San Francisco Bay Area	HIV+ seroconcordant couples; HIV serodiscordant couples	50% of sample reported earning $20,000 or less a year	Not reported	48.8 (no range reported)	Mean of 6.6 years	Convenience sample	14 Black couples
Tan, Pollack, et al.	Male	All couples with at least one Black partner	San Francisco Bay Area	HIV+ seroconcordant couples; HIV serodiscordant couples	69.4% employed	50% had at least some college	92% age 21 or older (18–29)	Mean of 2.5 years	Convenience sample	350 Black sexual minority men; 51.1% reported being in a same-sex couple
Wu et al.	Male	All couples with at least one Black partner	New York City	HIV+ seroconcordant couples; HIV serodiscordant couples	Mean income was $12,600 a year	82% had at least a high school diploma or GED	41.8 (21–59)	Mean of 1.9 years	Convenience sample	37 Black couples

Table 3. Funding and theoretical frameworks

Author(s)	Funding Source	Race and Gender of Principal Investigator Listed on Grant	Overarching Theoretical Framework	Data Analysis Theoretical Framework
Applewhite & Littlefield	R25 MH067127 from the National Institute of Mental Health and the Borough of Manhattan Community College’s Presidential Scholars Grant	PI: White male; Subaward PI: Black male	Interdependence theory	None reported
Campbell et al.	R01 MH089276 from the National Institute of Mental Health	White woman	None reported	Grounded theory
Dang & Frazer	No funding reported	N/A	None reported	None reported
Del Rio & Alonso-Villar	Ministerio de Econom_ıa, Industria y Competitividad, the Agencia Estatal de Investigaci_on, and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (ECO2016–76506-C4-2-R and ECO2017-82241-R) and Xunta de Galicia (ED431B2019/34)	Unable to determine	None reported	None reported
DuBois et al.	Cooperative agreement with the CDC, Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Prevention Research Branch	Unable to determine	None reported	None reported
Edwards	No funding reported	N/A	None reported	None reported
Glass	No funding reported	N/A	Integrated framework of symbolic interactionism and Black feminist theory	Grounded theory
Glass & Few-Demo	No funding reported	N/A	Integrated framework of symbolic interactionism and Black feminist theory	Grounded theory
Gonzales & Ortiz	Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Grant 65,902)	Unable to determine	None reported	None reported
Mays et al.	University of California Academic Senate, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Scientist Development Award (K21MH00878)	White woman	None reported	None reported
McLean et al.	No funding reported	N/A	None reported	None reported
Moore	Russell Sage Foundation Visiting Scholar program, the Woodrow Wilson Faculty Career Enhancement Fellowship funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation	Black woman	A gender relations perspective framework	None reported
Tan, Campbell, et al.	No funding reported	N/A	None reported	None reported
Tan, Campbell, Tabrisky, et al.	National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Mentored Research Scientist Award (K01 MH106416) & NIMH Mentored Research Scientist Award (K01 MH107331)	Asian woman; White woman	None reported	None reported
Tan, Pollack, et al.	CDC (5UR6PS000334); National Institute for Mental Health (R01 MH096690); National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01 MH106416)	White woman; Asian woman	Social epidemiological framework	None reported
Wu et al.	Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), grant # UR6PS000300	Asian man	Social cognitive theory	None reported

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