Important to understanding the AIDS Epidemic is the identification of crucial features that contribute to its proliferation and circulation within isolated communities. Through a correlation analysis of AIDS rates and various socioeconomic factors, inferences can be made on why certain correlations occur and why others are nonexistent. The geographic area of Manhattan, New York City is the environment in which elements such as languages spoken, and race populations were extracted and analyzed in a comprehensive sphere. Many correlations were attempted throughout the process of gathering data but only the ones that generated feasible results were used in the constructed graphs and maps. Drawing from various demographical factors, the conclusions that were made were derived from the composition of certain regions and their relative resources[1].
The area of Manhattan provided geographically divided sections that could be examined individually in terms of understanding its specifically tailored demographics, resources, and natural features. There are many defined neighborhoods of Manhattan such as Chelsea, the Upper West Side, the Upper East Side, Central Harlem, and Greenwich Village, just to name a few. The zip codes used in making the correlations spanned the entire island in order to make comparisons with areas that had high, moderate and low rates of the variable or factor being tested against the AIDS rate as referred to previously. Correlations that were greater than .31 were considered statistically significant when n=41, meeting a confidence interval of 95%. The general basis of the majority of the correlations that were made dealt with poverty rates in conjunction with households. Household correlations were based on the family status, gender of householder, and income levels. The United States Census defines a household as all the individuals that reside in a housing unit as their official place of residence (Census Bureau 2000). For the purposes of the US Census, a household is evaluated under the person to whom the house is rented or owned. It can be of one person living alone or with no related family members, which is considered a NonFamily Householder. The poverty line determined by the guidelines for the Department of Health and Human Services varies based on the number of individuals that live in a family unit (US Department of Health and Human Services 2005). There are specific thresholds that families must meet in proportion to how many people live in a family unit. For example, the poverty line for a family of four is $19,350. In Manhattan, the average household size ranged from between 1.44 and 2.99, therefore the poverty threshold fell between $9,570 and $16,090.