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Try out PMC Labs and tell us what you think. Learn More. This study examined sociocultural factors that impact dating and sexual experiences of heterosexual African American undergraduate college students attending a historically Black institution in the Southeastern United States. Power dynamics emerged as a contributing factor to the types of relationship involvement, sexual decision-making, and behavior among participants.
The importance of prevention programs focusing on situational and cultural variables is highlighted. Additionally, implications for professionals working with emerging adults to consider the impact of the gender ratio imbalance, and perceived power distributions on perceptions of dating relationships, and sexual decision making and behavior are addressed. Marriage is often thought of as the ultimate consummation of a relationship.
Marriage traditionally ifies commitment, monogamy, stability, trust, and afro Salem dating. Unfortunately, in the African American community, the marriage rate is low and is consistently declining McAdoo, Although there is a sufficient amount of information on the romantic and sexual relationships of college students, there is an unexplained dearth of information on these relationships among young African American men and women.
There is even less information on these relationships among African American emerging adults attending historically Black colleges and universities HBCUs. Our study focuses on two sociocultural factors affecting dating experiences of African American emerging adults attending an HBCU in the Southeast region of the United States. According to data from the U.
Census Bureauapproximately Of that1 million are African American men and 1. Differing reasons have been reported to explain the lower of men as compared to women on Black college campuses. One reason offered by Harknett is the disproportionate incarceration rates among young Black men.
Factors influencing dating experiences among african american emerging adults
Another reason suggested by Jordan and Cooper is that African American males often attend high schools with a history of low academic achievement and graduation rates lessening the likelihood that they will make it to college. Despite the reason, the reality is that there are fewer African American men in college than African American women, thereby exacerbating a gender imbalance.
The perceived of available mates is impacted by the gender ratio within the social and environmental context. For instance, men may have more negotiating power on campuses where there is a surplus of women. The phenomenon of gender ratio imbalance disproportionate of men and women can yield more power to one gender and can be explained by the social exchange theory SET; Homans, The SET posits that relationships are formed on the basis of reciprocity.
Gender imbalances may affect relationships by influencing the development and afro Salem dating of partnerships, expectations, and comparisons with alternatives. Each person in the dyad performs a cost—benefit analysis and enacts the behaviors that produce the greatest rewards with the fewest costs. In terms of costs, for women, the desire to be involved in and maintain relationships with men may be so strong that the acquiescence of power and monogamy are not seen as unreasonable or costly.
It is obvious that mate availability affects relationship formation and maintenance for Blacks and the sociocultural environment of many college campuses not just HBCUs may contribute to this by creating a complex dating environment that dictates norms that do not support committed relationships among students Ferguson et al. Researchers noted more permissive sexual behaviors and attitudes of men and women may have shifted over the past century, especially since the sexual revolution in the s Bogle, ; Dixon, ; Stinson, Emerging adults are attending college in greater s and not marrying as early, so the college campus becomes a place that provides the space to experiment with sexual behavior, intimacy, and boundaries without parental or university oversight Stinson, Although traditional college students are too young to remember this revolution, the effect on relationship patterns is undeniable.
Although casual relationships and hooking up have been used interchangeably in the literature, there are some distinctions that should be made. According to the same source, hookups do not usually include a romantic component nor do they include an underlying friendship. In other words, they are more likely to engage in casual sexual relationships and hookups on campus. The participation in short-term relationships and hookups may be supported by the context and peer norms of the social environment of many college campuses.
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Traditional aged 18—24 undergraduate college students are within the age group that is most affected by sexually transmitted infections STIsincluding HIV, and research has shown that college students frequently engage in risky behaviors e. While there are studies exploring the impact of gender ratio imbalances among African American adults e.
The college campus can create an environment that produces more sexual options with fewer perceived consequences, gendered social norms, and power differentials that make some particularly vulnerable to HIV infection.
In their study of gender inequity and HIV risk among African American college students, Ferguson, Quinn, Eng, and Sandelowski found that men had multiple sexual partners and created a setting where women were forced to decide whether they wanted to share their man. In this study, we adopted a qualitative methodology using focus groups to address two research questions: 1 What are the perceptions of available mates and experiences with types of relationships among heterosexual African American emerging adults attending this HBCU?
Focus groups and qualitative methods, in general, provide an opportunity for the researcher to begin formulating new ideas and hypotheses, tentative theories, and conceptual models of the phenomena of interest.
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Focus groups in particular were selected because they have the advantage of allowing participants to provide not only opinions but also decision-making experiences and their context. Data for this article come from a larger mixed-method study exploring sociocultural correlates of sexual behavior among African American heterosexual undergraduate college students aged 18—25 attending an HBCU in the southeast portion of the United States. Participants included 57 self-identified heterosexual African American undergraduate college students. The gender data for three participants were not provided; however, the remaining sample included 25 men The mean age of participants was See Table 1 for demographic information.
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Participants were recruited on campus via Institutional Review Board approved fliers posted in common areas. The fliers provided the eligibility criteria and indicated that students should contact the researcher if interested. Once the researcher was contacted, a brief screening was administered to confirm eligibility. Participants were eligible for inclusion in the study if they identified as African American, heterosexual, and were between the ages of 18 and 25, afro Salem dating.
Additional criteria included 1 full-time student status, 2 single not marriedand 3 reasonably comfortable talking about sexual behavior. The study was a mixed-method project, so students were excluded if they were unwilling or unable to participate in either the quantitative survey or the focus group. Eligible students ed a consent form for participation in the study which included consent to be audiotaped in the focus groups. Students completed an anonymous online survey prior to participating in a focus group.
After each student was screened, he or she was given a random unique code to enter into the survey online. The code was only entered to keep an accurate count of the screened participants who completed the survey and to verify this total with the of students in the focus groups. A total of nine focus groups, comprising of three to seven students each average of six students per grouptook place on campus.
Each focus group lasted between 70 and 90 min, was audiotaped with a digital recorder, and was stratified based on gender and age.
This helped ensure a diverse representation of students in the study, meanwhile allowing them to speak freely without the influence of gender and age differences impacting group dynamics. We also wanted to investigate and compare any possible confounding caused by gender, so we conducted coed groups still stratified by age as well.
Three focus groups were conducted only with women, three only with men, and three mixed gender. Two focus groups were conducted with younger students in each category aged 18—21 and one with older students aged 22— Students between the ages of 18 and 21 make up the majority of full-time students on campus, so there were more groups accommodating them.
Any personal identifiers included during the sessions were excluded from the transcripts. The principal investigator, an African American social psychologist with extensive experience in both sexual behavior research and focus groups facilitation, conducted all of the focus groups with the women and the coed groups. Another faculty member, an African American male sociologist trained in qualitative methods, conducted all of the focus groups with the men. Instructions told students to answer questions based on what is most appropriate for them and to keep in mind that the following pertain to the campus afro Salem dating.
Higher scores indicated less perceived mate availability. A semistructured interview guide was developed by the principal investigator based on key issues and research related to sexual behavior and decision making among African American college-aged students in the literature.
What do you think the ratio of Black men to Black women on campus is not assuming that Black men only date Black women, and vice versa?
What impact, if any, do you think the ratio of Black men to Black women on campus has on 1 mate availability; 2 relationships perception of, and engagement in ; and 3 sexual decision making and behavior? All recorded focus group sessions were transcribed verbatim by a professional transcription company and checked for accuracy.
The analysis team consisted of the principal investigator, a faculty member in the same department, a research associate, and two student research assistants.
We thought it was important to have students in the same age groups as those in the focus groups to help provide ecological validity to the coding procedure. In the initial phase of analysis, all members read the sections of the transcripts which corresponded with the topics of mate availability and relationships.
The team met bimonthly to discuss the phenomena identified relevant to the structural and cultural factors of relationships. A two-prong coding process took place: 1 deductive coding using a coding scheme and Atlas. These themes were summarized, discussed at the team meetings, and refined. The overall mean score on the Mate Availability scale was Both men and women acknowledged that men had more options for available partners than women on campus.
Missing data were found for seven of the participants and their data were excluded from the t -test.
