Risks for sexually-transmitted diseases: Racial -gender health inequities and socio-economic factors

This study investigated the risks for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among a sample of 100 African American and White self-identified heterosexuals equally stratified by race and gender living in a racially diverse section of Philadelphia, PA. The primary aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that major factors influencing STD risks were more related to socio-economic status (SES) such as income levels, housing stability, educational attainment, and incarceration rates rather than race or gender. Data from this study supported the association that individuals with lower levels of SES, regardless of race or gender, demonstrated a distinctive sexual partner selection pattern of behaviors that increased their risks for STDs. The preference for a dissortative versus an assortative sexual partner selection pattern was more indicative of STD risks. Individuals with lower SES demonstrated a dissortative pattern in comparison to those with moderate or higher SES levels who displayed an assortative partner selection pattern. Using a mixed methods research design, the study results supported the hypothesis that lower SES was statistically significant to higher levels of risks based on the subjects' individual display of dissortative partner selection patterns in relationship to their self-report of STD risks ( r = - .25, p< .05). Implications of this study are that strategies for STD interventions, treatment, and related services need to focus more on addressing the socio-economic inequities that tend to put more African Americans and other minorities at higher risks for STDs than White Americans.