Percent of Black Citizens

According to the “State of Maine 2004-2005 HIV/AIDS Epidemiological Profile,” White individuals comprise an astounding 97% of the state’s population, with all other Hispanic and non-White individuals amounting to only 3% of the population (compared to 18% for the United States as a whole.  As the largest racial minority group in Maine, Black citizens only comprise approximately .05% of the population (7). However, as Table 3 indicates, despite their minimal numbers, the cumulative AIDS rate for Black citizens in Maine is nine times larger than that of Whites (828 and 92 respectively).  Due to this extreme disparity in cumulative AIDS rates among these two races, it was hypothesized that the percent of Black citizens would positively correlate with AIDS rates in select Maine cities and towns. 

As the percent of Black population map, the table below, and the scatter plot below all indicate, AIDS rates do not significantly correlate with the percent of Black citizens upon first analysis.  In order to be considered significant at an α-level of .05, with 15 degrees of freedom (df = n-2), r must be greater than .482 (see correlation table 1).  With an r-value of .20, the correlation between percent of black citizens and AIDS rates did not exceed this threshold.  However, as shown in the scatter plot below, Ogunquit (a wealthy, gay tourist town that is only .5% Black, yet has an AIDS rate of 489) is a clear outlier.  When Ogunquit is removed from the data set, the r-value increases to .66 and becomes significant at the α = .01 level, suggesting that Maine may be experiencing a multi-sided epidemic (see correlation table 2).  Although the vast majority of the HIV/AIDS problem in Maine is concentrated around White gay males in the Ogunquit area, the HIV/AIDS problem in the remainder of the state seems to be considerably affecting Maine's small Black population.