Syndemics, sex and the city: Understanding sexually transmitted diseases in social and cultural context

This paper employs syndemics theory to explain high rates of sexually transmitted disease among inner city African American and Puerto Rican heterosexual young adults in Hartford, CT, USA. Syndemic theory helps to elucidate the tendency for multiple co-terminus and interacting epidemics to develop u...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social science & medicine (1982) 2006-10, Vol.63 (8), p.2010-2021
Main Authors: Singer, Merrill C., Erickson, Pamela I., Badiane, Louise, Diaz, Rosemary, Ortiz, Dugeidy, Abraham, Traci, Nicolaysen, Anna Marie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
African American
African Americans
Anthropology, Cultural
Biological and medical sciences
Black or African American - psychology
Black people
Central Cities
Connecticut
Connecticut - epidemiology
Culture
Decision Making
Epidemics
Family Violence
Female
Focus Groups
Hartford, Connecticut
Health risk assessment
Heterosexuality
Hispanic or Latino - psychology
Hispanic people
Humans
Interviews as Topic
Latino people
Male
Medical sciences
Miscellaneous
Political economy
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Puerto Rican
Puerto Rican Americans
Puerto Ricans
Risk Assessment
Risk Factors
Risk management
Role Models
Sexual Behavior - ethnology
Sexual health
Sexually transmitted diseases
Sexually Transmitted Diseases - epidemiology
Sexually Transmitted Diseases - ethnology
Social Environment
Social factors
Social inequality
Sociocultural Factors
STD
Syndemics
Syndemics Sexually transmitted diseases Young adults African American Puerto Rican Political economy
Theory
U.S.A
United States of America
USA
Young adults
Youth
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Summary:This paper employs syndemics theory to explain high rates of sexually transmitted disease among inner city African American and Puerto Rican heterosexual young adults in Hartford, CT, USA. Syndemic theory helps to elucidate the tendency for multiple co-terminus and interacting epidemics to develop under conditions of health and social disparity. Based on enhanced focus group and in-depth interview data, the paper argues that respondents employed a cultural logic of risk assessment which put them at high risk for STD infection. This cultural logic was shaped by their experiences of growing up in the inner city which included: coming of age in an impoverished family, living in a broken home, experiencing domestic violence, limited expectations of the future, limited exposure to positive role models, lack of expectation of the dependency of others, and fear of intimacy.
ISSN:0277-9536
1873-5347
DOI:10.1016/j.socscimed.2006.05.012