Race, Gender, and HIV Testing: A Nationwide Study of the Social Determinants of Black Male and Female Differences in HIV Testing

Black communities comprise 13% of the U.S. population, but accounted for 42% of all new HIV infections in 2019. Key to reducing HIV infection rates is knowing one’s status. A precursor to knowing is getting tested for HIV. The more information one has concerning the ways social determinants serve as conduits and barriers to getting tested, the more beneficial to all communities, and especially marginalized ones. To help fill this gap in knowledge, this paper utilizes critical race theory and intersectionality as theoretical frameworks, employs secondary analysis of the Black sample within the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention; as well as hierarchical logistic regression modeling to examine the relative impact of health and healthcare, substance use, and key demographics on whether or not a respondent gets tested for HIV. Further, to examine gender differences across these relationships for Black adults, analyses are performed first for both genders and then separately for male and female respondents.