title: The gender ratio imbalance and its relationship to risk of HIV/AIDS among African American women at historically black colleges and universities.
abstract: African American women are at increased risk of HIV transmission through heterosexual contact. HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death among African American women between 25 to 34 years of age, and many of these women were likely infected while in college. Four focus groups were conducted with African American students attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in order to learn about the college dating environment and how it influenced women's risk of HIV infection. We used constant comparison techniques and visual display matrixes to analyse the data. Students identified the gender ratio imbalance of more women to men on campus as a key element of the campus dating environment and described how it places women at an increased risk for HIV infection. Primary consequences of this gender ratio imbalance were men having multiple female sexual partners during the same time period and women complying with men's condom use preferences. HIV preventive intervention programmes at HBCUs must address the gender ratio imbalance and its consequences to reduce women's risk of contracting the infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, CB #7440, University of North Carolina School of Public Health, Chapel Hill, 27599-7440, USA. Yvonne_Ferguson@unc.edu
authors.forename: Y Owens
authors.initials: YO
authors.lastname: Ferguson
authors.forename: S Crouse
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Quinn
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Eng
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sandelowski
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017280:Condoms / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D010414:Pennsylvania; D012307:Risk Factors; D021841:Safe Sex; D012572:School Health Services; D012744:Sex Ratio; D014495:Universities