Male Partners

 One may easily predict that unmarried male householders living with a male partner would be correlated with cumulative AIDS rates due to the well known associations between gay male partners and elevated AIDS rates.  However, it was inconceivable how enormous this correlation would be. When comparing the percent unmarried male householder living with male partner out of all households with cumulative AIDS rates in Allegheny County, the correlation was astonishing. At a level of 0.799, this was by far the strongest correlation that had occurred within the Pittsburgh region (Table 1.1, 1.12; Graphs 1.12, 1.13; Maps 1.1, 1.12, 1.13). The significance level necessary to prove such a correlation rested a whole .348 below the correlation coefficient for unmarried male partners, at a mere .451. This correlation level nearly doubles that necessary to make it significant, while achieving a level far higher than any other correlation within the area. Even when one compares the percent unmarried male householder living with male partner out of all unmarried households to cumulative AIDS rates, the correlation is nonetheless quite prominent at 0.561 (Table 1.1, 1.12; Graphs 1.12, 1.13; Maps 1.1, 1.12, 1.13). This correlation coefficient still prevails 0.110 higher than the significance level, and in turn, is almost equally as shocking.

In addition to these striking associations, there seems to be one significant outlier within both sets of data. This outlier has been identified as the zip code 15233, an area slightly outside Manchester and the Northside, with a 65.9% male population and an unmarried male householder living with male partner percentage of 30.769 (Table 1.12) out of all unmarried couples (City-Data.com). This percentage is astonishing because it could very well mark the establishment of a new gay neighborhood within the Pittsburgh region. In addition to the strong percentage with unmarried male householder living with male partner, this vicinity also has an abnormally high AIDS rate at 1804.76 per 100,000, as well as a lofty percent of the adult population that did not finish high school, 40.63, and an equally elevated percentage of African Americans, at 67.91 (Tables 1.1, 1.11, 1.13). All these factors taken into consideration, the area of 15233 seems to have one of the greatest AIDS problems in Allegheny County.

http://greatreporter.com/mambo/images/stories/storypics/gaypartners.jpg

In conclusion, the correlations presented with cumulative AIDS rates and governmental assisted income, regular income, poverty, education, race, sex offenders, and sexuality or living arrangements all help provide means for determining where AIDS is in Pittsburgh, and who it is affecting. In order to assist in the fight against AIDS, Pittsburgh as a community must learn to recognize these associations, and prevent the spread of AIDS by addressing the areas affected. Through the use of correlation coefficients, the confidence intervals of 95% and 99%, and their respective significance levels of 0.279 and 0.451, cumulative AIDS rates can be pinpointed and addressed in order to prevent AIDS now and in the future. Now that the factors that promote AIDS have been identified, it is Allegheny County’s job to stop this epidemic, once and for all.