Experiences of discrimination and endorsement of HIV/AIDS conspiracy beliefs: exploring difference among a sample of Latino, Black, and White young adults.

Racial/ethnic discrimination and HIV/AIDS conspiracy beliefs may contribute to disparities in use and satisfaction with healthcare services. Previous studies that examined racial/ethnic experiences of everyday discrimination (EOD), health care discrimination (HCD), and HIV/AIDS conspiracy beliefs (HCB) focused primarily on African Americans with few studies focusing on Latinos. This study used data from in-person structured interviews with 450 Latino, Black, and White young adults from East Los Angeles, California. Multivariable models, adjusting for all demographic covariates, investigated if race/ethnicity and gender were associated with EOD and HCD and endorsing HCB, and if the associations between race/ethnicity and discriminations and HCB varied by gender. Blacks and Latinos reported more experiences of EOD and HCD in almost all forms and endorsed more HIV/AIDS conspiracy beliefs compared to Whites. Additionally, Black and Latino men reported stronger feelings of EOD than their female counterparts. More reports of experiences of HCD and endorsement of HCB beliefs were found for Blacks, Latinos, and participants with children compared to their counterparts. This study contributes to a growing understanding of how different racial/ethnic groups experience discrimination across various settings and everyday activities and their endorsement of HIV/AIDS conspiracy beliefs. The field of Public Health must address the problems of racism and discrimination similar to any other toxic pathogen. In so doing, Public Health becomes proactive in its efforts to mitigate the effects of racial discriminations on population health.