Religiosity, ethnic identity, and risky sexual behavior in an African American church-affiliated population

Title from PDF of title page, viewed on March 12, 2013Dissertation advisor: Jannette Berkley-PattonVitaIncludes bibliographic references (p. 90-97)Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dept. of Psychology. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2012African Americans are disproportionately burdened by sexually transmitted infections and human immunodeficiency virus in the US. The current study examined relationships between demographics, religiosity, ethnic identity, and sexual risk behaviors among 202 sexually active African American church-affiliated participants (mean age = 25; 69% female). Participants were fairly religious as evidenced by their reports of weekly engagement of scripture reading and daily engagement in thoughts of God and prayer. Participants spent quite a bit to a great deal of time utilizing positive religious coping and little to no time utilizing negative religious coping. In addition, participant's God control beliefs moderately influenced their choices related to engagement in sex. Participants reported moderate levels of ethnic identity exploration and commitment. On average, participants reported 10 lifetime sex partners and two within the past six months. Age was significantly predictive of lifetime sexual checklist factors (i.e., having sex while high on drugs or alcohol, being a victim of domestic violence, having sex with someone who has been in the correctional system) and previous six month and lifetime sex-only factors (i.e., number of sex partners, condom use). None of the primary study predictors (i.e., religious beliefs and behaviors, religious coping, God control beliefs, ethnic identity) were significantly associated with risky sexual behaviors.Introduction -- Scope of the problem -- Sexual risk behaviors among African American adults -- Review of religiosity literature -- Review of ethnic identity literature -- Methodology -- Analysis plan -- Results -- Discussion -- Appendi