Let’s Talk Sex: Exploring Sexual Risk and Experiences of Discrimination in African Americans

African Americans experience increased sexual risks, such as early onset of sexual intercourse, unprotected sexual encounters and more lifetime sexual partners, resulting in disproportionately high rates of sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy. Despite current prevention efforts, these disparities persist. A better understanding of the role of structural factors such as discrimination in influencing individual sexual risk is needed. We conducted a systematic literature review to explore the role of discrimination in the sexual experiences of African Americans. Results indicate experiences of racial discrimination among African American adolescents and adults are associated with younger age at first sex, unprotected sex and number of lifetime partners. Implications for prevention efforts and future research are discussed.