A Systematic Review of Black American Same-Sex Couples Research: Laying the Groundwork for Culturally-Specific Research and Interventions

Authors

Jonathan M. Lassiter, Rowan UniversityFollow
Jagadīśa-devaśrī Dacus
Mallory O. Johnson

Document Type

Article

Version Deposited

Published Version

Publication Date

8-30-2021

Publication Title

The Journal of Sex Research

DOI

10.1080/00224499.2021.1964422

Abstract

This article presents the findings of a systematic review of the empirical literature related to Black American same-sex couples (BASCs). We found 16 articles that met inclusion criteria. Most articles were published in journals that focused on interdisciplinary studies, HIV/AIDS, and couples and families’ studies. Approximately 63% of the articles reported external funding support. However, only one of these grants was awarded to a Black investigator. Articles predominately focused on BASCs composed of Black sexual minority men residing in major U.S. cities. Only 25% of the articles focused on couples where both partners were Black. Most studies were cross-sectional, used convenience samples, and were reported without mention of a theoretical framework that explicated the philosophical assumptions that guided the research. The articles focused on a range of topics such as resilience, relationship dynamics, couple level social support, rituals with extended families, and partner-health associations. The implications of these findings for advancing culturally-specific behavioral and social science health research and interventions with BASCs are presented.

Comments

© 2021 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Recommended Citation

Jonathan Mathias Lassiter, Jagadīśa-devaśrī Dacus & Mallory O. Johnson (2021): A Systematic Review of Black American Same-Sex Couples Research: Laying the Groundwork for Culturally-Specific Research and Interventions. The Journal of Sex Research, DOI: 10.1080/00224499.2021.1964422

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.