Tapping the Core: Behavioral Characteristics of the Low-Income, African-American Male Core Group

Abstract

African-Americans (AA) have been among the hardest hit by the hidden epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the US. One potential means of reversing this epidemiological trend is to identify groups responsible for the sustained prevalence of STD in the AA community, who are commonly known as ‘core groups’. However, there is a lack of specific information about characteristics and attitudes of this group as researchers have yet to empirically define this ‘core group’. The primary purposes of this study are to define and confirm the existence of the social epidemiological concept known as the core group among AAs and to determine the sexual beliefs and practices of AA male core group using habitus. Data from 266 low-income, AA males between the ages of 16 and 78 recruited from an inner-city STD clinic in the southeast are analyzed. Findings indicate differences between core and non-core men in sexual activity, STDs, age and age of sexual initiation, monogamy, trading money or drugs for sex, sexual preoccupation, and beliefs and attitudes.