13 Urban minority female adolescents report high levels of worry about AIDS, but they report equal or greater concerns about having enough money to live on, general health, doing well in school, getting pregnant, and getting hurt in a street fight. 8 Women of color experience a higher rate of medical indigence than do white women, and they confront a series of financial, cultural, and institutional barriers in obtaining health care. For many young women of color, publicly funded health insurance provides only limited access to the full range of needed health services. Services are often fragmented and may fail to address the specific needs of adolescents. Another study of African American women found that women usually take responsibility for contraception but seldom insist on using contraception if they fear abuse.
Women are also often uncomfortable talking openly to their partners about sex.
19 YWOC Need Effective, Culturally Specific Programs. Women of color who receive AIDS information framed in a specific cultural context are more likely to view AIDS as a personal threat than are women who receive a standard public health message. 20 HIV prevention skills are also contingent on women understanding the effects of physical and sexual trauma, their histories, and their willingness to learn communication skills. For the purpose of this fact sheet, young women of color are defined as heterosexual, African American, Latina, Asian Pacific Islander, and Native American women between the ages of 13 to 25. Little research has focused on Asian Pacific Islanders and Native Americans.