Update: Social Determinants of Risk-Taking Behaviors Associated with HIV Positive Status among Black/African American Women

This qualitative explanatory study investigated risk-taking behaviors of sex practices and drug use associated with HIV-positive status among African American women. This study was conducted using a non-probabilistic sample of 252 African American women aged from 18 to 65. The data was analyzed using a t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient, and stepwise regression. Four research hypotheses were tested: Ha1: The HIV-positive group will exhibit significantly higher risk-taking behaviors compared to the HIV-negative group. Ha2: HIV-negative group will possess significantly greater knowledge of HIV compared to the HIV-positive group. Ha3: Knowledge of HIV is inversely related to risk-taking behaviors. Ha4: Demographic and socioeconomic factors (age, student status, sexual orientation) have a significant effect on HIV risk-taking behaviors and HIV knowledge. The data suggests that hypotheses one and four were supported, and hypotheses two and three were unsupported. Specifically, the data confirms hypothesis one. Respondents have higher HIV risk-taking behaviors than their HIV negative counterparts. Further, the data confirms that HIV risk-taking behaviors were primarily predicted by positive status (b = 3.816, p < .01, sr2 = .03) and bachelor's education or higher (b = -4.848, p < .01, sr2 = .07). A key finding of this study is that HIV-negative and HIV-positive Black/African American female respondents were similar in their risk-taking behaviors. HIV-negative and HIV-positive Black/African American female respondents were identical in HIV knowledge.