Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Background: Racial/ethnic assortative mixing is associated with STI. Non-Hispanic black women have the highest rates of assortative mixing in the United States (US); however, national data found that classical socioeconomic factors were not associated with assortative mixing. We examined whether geographic and cultural factors were associated with assortative mixing in the US.
Methods: We used 2015-2019 data from the National Survey of Family Growth (response rate=64%) which oversamples Hispanic and non-Hispanic black women and men. For the most recent non-marital/cohabiting sex partner, racial-ethnic mixing was coded as assortative (same race/ethnicity) or not. Using SUDAAN, we examined residence (geographic), US nativity (cultural), and assortative mixing separately for Hispanic, non-Hispanic white, and non-Hispanic black women and men (Wald F). We used logistic regression to examine geographic and cultural factors and assortative mixing while adjusting for socioeconomic factors (age, education, poverty level). Adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) were calculated.
Results: Among the three racial/ethnic groups of women (n=1131), the only significant finding in bivariate analyses was US nativity and assortative mixing for Hispanic women (p< 0.001). In adjusted analyses, US native Hispanic women (aPR=0.76, 95%CI:0.62-0.92) were less likely to have a same race/ethnicity partner than non-US native Hispanic women. Among the three racial/ethnic groups of men (n=2497), the only significant findings in bivariate analyses were for US nativity and assortative mixing for Hispanic men (p< 0.001) and for residence and assortative mixing for non-Hispanic white men (p=0.008). In adjusted analyses, US native Hispanic men (aPR=0.81, 95%CI:0.71-0.82) were less likely to have a same race/ethnicity partner than non-US native Hispanic men. Non-Hispanic white men who reside in a metropolitan principal city (aPR=0.88, 95%CI:0.82-0.94) and non-Hispanic black men who reside in metropolitan areas outside the principal city (aPR=0.76, 95%CI:0.59-0.99) were less likely to have a same race/ethnicity partner than their counterparts living outside of a metropolitan area.
Conclusions: Geographic and cultural factors were associated with assortative racial/ethnic mixing among men and Hispanic women but not among non-Hispanic black women. Residential segregation and additional cultural factors should be considered to understand assortative mixing among non-Hispanic black women. Examining trends in these factors over time may be useful.
