Journal of Urban Health

, Volume 90, Issue 5, pp 953–969 | Cite as

Condom Use and Concurrent Partnering among Heterosexually Active, African American Men: A Qualitative Report

  • Victoria Frye
  • Kim Williams
  • Keosha T. Bond
  • Kirk Henny
  • Malik Cupid
  • Linda Weiss
  • Debbie Lucy
  • Beryl A. Koblin
  • for the Straight Talk Intervention Study Team
Article
First Online:

Abstract

African Americans are overrepresented among heterosexual cases of HIV/AIDS in the USA. Inconsistent condom use and concurrent partnering are two sexual behaviors driving the heterosexual HIV epidemic in the African American community. To inform the development of an HIV prevention behavioral intervention to decrease concurrent partnering and increase condom use among African American heterosexual men, we conducted formative research, including 61 structured interviews, 5 focus groups with 25 men, and 30 in-depth qualitative interviews between July and December 2009. We used a grounded theoretical approach and categorizing strategies to code and analyze the qualitative data. Results around condom use confirmed earlier findings among heterosexual men in general: condoms diminish pleasure, interfere with erection, and symbolize infidelity. Although valued by some as a form of disease prevention and pregnancy prevention, condoms are often used only with specific types of female partners, such as new or casual partners, or due to visual risk assessment. Sex partner concurrency was described as normative and ascribed to men’s “natural” desire to engage in a variety of sexual activities or their high sex drive, with little recognition of the role it plays in the heterosexual HIV epidemic. Fatherhood emerged among many men as a crucial life event and compelling motivation for reducing sexual risk behavior. Based on these results, we conclude that existing HIV prevention efforts to improve attitudes towards and motivate use of condoms either have not reached or have not been successful with African American heterosexual men. In designing behavioral interventions to decrease concurrent partnering and increase condom use, addressing negative attitudes towards condoms and partner risk assessment is critical, as is integrating novel motivational approaches related to identity as fathers and men in the African American community.

Keywords

HIV/AIDS Sexual risk behavior African Americans Heterosexual men 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge Sebastian Bonner, Darigg Brown, Mary-Justine Day Day-Todd, James Egan, Sara Gillen, Emily Greene, Ronnald Harriotte, Donna Hubbard McCree, Babatunde Oyelade, Jocelyn Patterson, Jerome Payne, Nairobi Shellow, Raekiela Taylor, and Leigh Willis, and thank the men who gave their time and efforts to participate in this study.

Source of Support

This study was supported by cooperative agreement from the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, CDC award number. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Copyright information

© The New York Academy of Medicine 2012

Authors and Affiliations

  • Victoria Frye
    • 1
    • 2
  • Kim Williams
    • 3
  • Keosha T. Bond
    • 4
  • Kirk Henny
    • 3
  • Malik Cupid
    • 5
  • Linda Weiss
    • 6
  • Debbie Lucy
    • 7
  • Beryl A. Koblin
    • 7
  • for the Straight Talk Intervention Study Team
  1. 1.Laboratory of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Lindsley F. Kimball Research InstituteNew York Blood CenterNew YorkUSA
  2. 2.Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public HealthColumbia UniversityNew YorkUSA
  3. 3.Division of HIV/AIDS PreventionCenters for Disease Control and PreventionAtlantaUSA
  4. 4.General Internal MedicineMount Sinai Medical CenterNew YorkUSA
  5. 5.Center for Urban Epidemiologic StudiesNew York Academy of MedicineNew YorkUSA
  6. 6.Center for Evaluation and Applied ResearchNew York Academy of MedicineNew YorkUSA
  7. 7.Laboratory of Infectious Disease Prevention, Lindsley F. Kimball Research InstituteNew York Blood CenterNew YorkUSA

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