Epidemiology: Open Access
Open Access

Abstract

C ollege students, especially African American college students, are among the highest risk groups and are more likely to be at risk for contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) due to their substance abuse and high-risk sexual behaviors. Previous studies and educational interventions have focused on female college students? knowledge of Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and STDs, but failed to examine the impacts of school experiences and contextual factors. In fact, the college environment offers many opportunities for those high-risk behaviors, including unsafe sex, multiple sexual partners, alcohol use, and substance abuse. Analyses were based on data gathered from 267 African-American college students enrolled at Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) who participated in the American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA) survey. The findings indicate that the HIV and STD knowledge have no significant effects on college student's substance abuse and high-risk sexual behaviors; instead, student's experiences and school contextual factors are two important factors in predicting substance abuse and high-risk sexual behaviors among African-American college students.

Biography

Jiangmin Xu, PhD is a biostatistician and Associate Professor in the School of Health Sciences at Winton-Salem State University. His health-related interest concentrates on the prevention of substance abuse, treatment barriers, treatment process, health service utilization, HIV research, and application of statistical methodologies. His recent studies focus on empirically testing theoretical issues about the development of multi-dimensional structures on treatment barriers in substance abusers. He has published more than twenty papers and also serves as guest editors at several journals.