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The Relationship Between Perceived Discrimination and High-Risk Social Ties Among Illicit Drug Users in New York City, 2006–2009

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Abstract

Discrimination can influence risk of disease by promoting unhealthy behaviors (e.g., smoking, alcohol use). Whether it influences the formation of high-risk social ties that facilitate HIV transmission is unclear. Using cross-sectional data from a cohort of illicit drug users, this study examined the association between discrimination based on race, drug use and prior incarceration and risky sex and drug ties. Negative binomial regression models were performed. Participants who reported discrimination based on race and drug use had significantly more sex and drug-using ties. But, after accounting for both racial and drug use discrimination, only racial discrimination was associated with increased sex, drug-using, and injecting ties. Drug users who experience discrimination and subsequently develop more sex and drug-using ties, increase their risk of contracting HIV. Future longitudinal studies illuminating the pathways linking discrimination and social network development may guide intervention development and identify drug-using subpopulations at high risk for disease transmission.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01 DA 019964-01). The authors thank the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholars program for its financial support. Dr. Ford acknowledges the support of the California Center for Population Research (5R24HD041022). We would also like to thank Jeffrey Morenoff for his thoughtful contributions to the development of this manuscript. Finally, the authors would like to acknowledge the START staff and participants for their contributions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, 1415 Washington Heights, SPH1, Room 3642, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Natalie D. Crawford

  2. Department of Community Health Sciences, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Chandra Ford

  3. Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Sandro Galea & Crystal M. Fuller

  4. Department of Health, Behavior and Society, John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Carl Latkin

  5. Center for Urban Epidemiologic Studies, New York Academy of Medicine, New York, NY, USA

    Kandice C. Jones

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  1. Natalie D. Crawford
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  2. Chandra Ford
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  4. Carl Latkin
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  6. Crystal M. Fuller
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Correspondence to Natalie D. Crawford.

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Crawford, N.D., Ford, C., Galea, S. et al. The Relationship Between Perceived Discrimination and High-Risk Social Ties Among Illicit Drug Users in New York City, 2006–2009. AIDS Behav 17, 419–426 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-012-0201-6

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