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AIDS-Related Stigma Among Black and Hispanic Young Adults

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Abstract

Telephone surveys with national probability samples of English-speaking adults have suggested that popular support for punitive policies toward people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) declined in the 1990s, but AIDS-related stigma persists in the United States. Our aim was to assess the prevalence and impact of AIDS-related stigma in non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic communities. A cross-sectional computer-assisted telephone-interview survey was conducted in summer 2003 with African-American, Afro-Caribbean, Haitian, and Hispanic 18–39 year-old residents of 12 high AIDS-incidence areas in Broward County, Florida. Stigma items were adopted from national surveys, but interviews were conducted in Spanish and Haitian Creole as well as in English. Stigma scores were higher than those reported for national samples, especially among Haitians interviewed in Creole. AIDS-related stigma was associated with never receiving an HIV-antibody test (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 0.78, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.62–0.99, P = .046), an elevated perception of HIV risk (AOR = 1.32, 95% CI: 1.01–1.73, P = .045) and a failure to participate in HIV-prevention efforts (AOR = 0.53, 95% CI: 0.34–0.85, P = .008). Interventions are needed to mitigate the pernicious effects of AIDS-related stigma.

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Acknowledgments

Our Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) 2010 community demonstration project was supported by Cooperative Agreement Number U50/CCU422194 with the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A brief overview of this study was presented as Poster MoPeD3949 at the XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, on July 12, 2004. The contents of the poster and this article are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of CDC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Robert R. Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, Modesto A. Maidique Campus, HLS II, 576, 11200 S.W. 8th Street, Miami, FL, 33199, USA

    William W. Darrow & Julie E. Montanea

  2. Institute for Public Opinion Research, Florida International University, Biscayne Bay Campus, HM 246, 3000 NE 151st Street, North Miami, FL, 33181, USA

    Hugh Gladwin

Authors
  1. William W. Darrow
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  2. Julie E. Montanea
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  3. Hugh Gladwin
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Correspondence to William W. Darrow.

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Darrow, W.W., Montanea, J.E. & Gladwin, H. AIDS-Related Stigma Among Black and Hispanic Young Adults. AIDS Behav 13, 1178–1188 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-009-9601-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-009-9601-7

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