141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

286690
Place and power: How campus culture impacts the perceptions about sexual concurrency among African American male collegians

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Laura Riley, MPH , Behavioral Health and Science Education Department, Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, GA
Angelica Geter, MPH , Department of Health Behavior, University of Kentucky College of Public Health, Lexington, KY
Winifred Wilkins Thompson, PhD, MSW , Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University Winship Cancer Institute at Grady Health System, Atlanta, GA
Sinead Younge, PhD , Department of Psychology, Morehouse College, Atlanta, GA
This qualitative study was exploratory in nature and sought to investigate the connections between campus culture and sexual concurrency among male college students. Sexual concurrency is the act of having multiple sexual partnerships within overlapping time periods (Adimora, Schoenbac & Doherty, 2006). Sexually concurrent partnerships have been identified as risk factors for the transmission of HIV and STIs (Adimora et al., 2006; Lenior, et al., 2006). Women currently outnumber men in college, this coupled with the nature of college relationships suggest that more causal partnerships are permitted. Using a phenomenological approach, 30 semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with African American men ages 18-25 that were currently enrolled full-time at a Historically Black College. Preliminary results suggest that campus culture plays an important role in the development of masculine identity in that students have a different understanding of their role within the broader institution as they matriculate through the institution. Yet in terms of sexual concurrency, the intra-group differences vary vastly, from those who are celibate to those who have multiple sexual relationships across different institutions. The young men discuss their rationales for their stance on sexuality mentioning familial upbringing, religious affiliation, the perceived lack of privacy, the sheer number of women available, or competition between men on campus. These findings suggest that African American men are complex and diverse; thus, future studies should be conducted exclusively with African American collegiate men to better account for the within group diversity for use in future interventions.

Learning Areas:
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Identify the role that campus culture plays in the development of gender roles and masculinity Understand the rationales young men give for their perceptions about sexually concurrent behavior Examine the intra group differences between expressions of masculinity among African American males attending a Historically Black College (HBC)

Keywords: Minority Health, Sexual Risk Behavior

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: In my time as a master's level student studying HIV/AIDS at Emory's School of Public Health I have worked in different capacities for senior level researchers that work in areas that address the behavioral risk factors that aid in the transmission and acquisition of HIV and other STIs. My scientific interests include identifying the role that African American men play in heterosexual transmission of HIV to African American women.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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