Stigmatised transitions into adulthood : Understanding the experiences of Black African youth with prenatally acquired HIV living in the UK

Muchena, Salome and McDermott, Elizabeth and Limmer, Mark (2021) Stigmatised transitions into adulthood : Understanding the experiences of Black African youth with prenatally acquired HIV living in the UK. PhD thesis, Lancaster University.

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Abstract

Young black African migrants living with prenatally acquired HIV in the UK experience an intersection of racism and HIV stigma. Their parents play a role in socialising them into their status as stigmatised. This makes transition into adulthood difficult in specific ways that could be better supported if we had a good understanding of them, but no-one has looked at this. Despite the knowledge that the population of young people with prenatally acquired HIV in the UK is mainly comprised of black Africans, no research has explored how the intersection of race and HIV related stigma may potentially exacerbate transition challenges of this group. The aim of this qualitative study was to address this gap by reporting on the experiences and impact of intersecting stigmatised identities as well as being socialised into stigma by parents, on the transition to adulthood of the black African young people with prenatally acquired HIV living in the United Kingdom (UK). Using semi-structured interviews with 13 male and female participants between the ages of 16-25 years, the study explored the young people’s experiences of being socialised into stigma by parents, ethnic and HIV-related stigma with particular reference to employment, peer and romantic relationships and the ways in which these experiences shaped their transition into adulthood. The findings revealed that the transition to adulthood of prenatally infected HIV positive black African youth in the UK is not only affected by ethnic and HIV related stigma but also by the covert and overt messages from their parents that HIV is a stigmatised disease therefore it has to be kept private. The privacy orientation from parents and society’s negative attitudes toward Africans and HIV, restrict the young people’s ability to disclose their status consequently, limiting their social support networks and delaying or preventing their opportunities to form families of their own or fulfil their employment and career aspirations. There is need for stigma reduction interventions that include the parents and are also ethnic-sensitive so to challenge the racist stereotypes towards the black African youth with prenatally acquired HIV living in the UK in order to promote a successful transition into adulthood.