The Relationship Between Discrimination and High-Risk Social Ties by Race/Ethnicity: Examining Social Pathways of HIV Risk

Abstract

High-risk social ties portend differences in opportunity for HIV exposures and may contribute to racial/ethnic disparities in HIV transmission. Discrimination may affect the formation of high-risk social ties and has not been explored as a possible explanation for these persistent disparities. Using data from injection and non-injection drug users, we examined the association between the number of high-risk sex and drug ties with discrimination due to race, drug use, and incarceration stratified by race/ethnicity. Negative binomial regression models were used. While blacks had significantly fewer injecting ties than Latinos and whites, blacks who reported racial discrimination compared to blacks who did not, had more sex and injecting ties. Latinos who reported drug use discrimination compared to Latinos who did not also had more sex ties. Latinos and whites who reported drug use discrimination had more injecting ties than Latinos and whites who did not. Discrimination is associated with high-risk social ties among all racial/ethnic groups. But, these data highlight different forms of discrimination within racial/ethnic group are associated with risky social ties. More research is needed to confirm these findings and further explore the association between various forms of discrimination and social ties that may help explain racial/ethnic disparities in HIV.

Can Mindfulness Training Improve Medication Adherence? Integrative Review of the Current Evidence and Proposed Conceptual Model

“…(46) In addition, many PLWH are members of socially discriminated groups, including racial/ethnic minorities, sexual minorities, and people struggling with mental health or substance use problems. (47–50) HIV remains a stigmatized disease, and some PLWH are reluctant to disclose their serostatus for fear of social rejection. Life stress is important for disease progression because, in addition to undermining ART adherence, stress can directly suppresses immune functioning (and levels of CD4 cells), thereby exacerbating the effects of poor adherence on viral load.…”

Presence of Drug-Free Family and Friends in the Personal Social Networks of People Receiving Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder

“…Activation of drug-free network support could buffer some of the unique social and environmental stressors experienced by African-Americans and women (e.g., Blankenship, Reinhard, Sherman, & El-Bassel, 2015; Crawford et al, 2014). At the very least, formal inclusion of drug-free family and friends for these and other populations might provide more consistent and stable social support for recovery, a variable consistently associated with improved treatment outcomes (e.g., Longabaugh, Wirtz, Zywiak, & O’Malley, 2010; Warren et al, 2007).…”

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