Pathways from Psychosocial Stress to Risky Sexual Behavior among Low-Income Inner-City African American (AA) Women in Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood

I investigate the pathways from psychosocial stress to risky sexual behavior among low-income inner city African American women. Stressors include violence exposure, neighborhood disadvantage and chaos within the home. Neurophysiological models of the effects of stress development, and health consequences guide this study. In future studies longitudinal data and biological data will be collected from AA adolescents in urban Chicago neighborhoods as a method of measuring pathways from chronic stress to sexual risk. Overall, I hope to use this research to bring awareness to the neuropsychological stresses within the AA female community in effort to decrease the frequency of sexually risky behavior