Eagle Feather

Author: Meagan Hatton

Faculty Mentor: Joseph Oppong, Department of Geography, College of Arts and Sciences; Associate Dean, Toulouse Graduate School

Department and College Affiliation: Department of Geography, College of Arts and Sciences

Bio: Meagan Hatton is currently a junior double majoring in Geography and Photojournalism at the University of North Texas. She has been on the Dean’s List numerous times and is a member of the Tau Sigma Honor Society as well. She is a proud member of the North Texas Energy and Environment Club and was the Event Coordinator for the club in 2010-2011 and is currently the President for 2011-2012. Meagan is also a member of the Sustainability Council on campus and works with the Operations and Land Use Sub-committee, which is responsible for making recommendations about the physical campus environment and how to sustainably maintain the built environment as well as the Recycling Committee for campus. Meagan is also a campus leader for Re-Energize Texas, an organization devoted to changing Texas’s energy future. Among other things, Meagan is also a member of NORML, a dancer for UNT’s African Ensemble, and works 20+ hours a week. She plans to volunteer for the Peace Corps after graduation in hopes of helping children in Africa who are living with HIV/AIDS. She wishes to pursue a career in Medical Geography working in Africa and dreams of being a photographer for National Geographic. After working for several years, Meagan plans to return to school to get a Master’s degree in Medical Geography and Sustainability. Meagan’s overall goal in life, she says, is to “provide positivity while helping others and using education as a tool to get there.”

Abstract: HIV/AIDS has become a serious threat in Texas among youths and teens, and will continue to grow as a problem unless action is taken to prevent the spread of the virus. From 2002-2008, the HIV rate among youths and teens, ages 13-24, increased 38%, from 14.2 per 100,000 to 19.6 per 100,000 (Texas Department of State Health Services, 2010). Using case data provided by the Texas State Department of Health Services, this paper seeks to understand the spatial distribution of HIV/AIDS morbidity among youths and teens ages 13-24 and the variables that are significantly related to the disease. De-identified data on HIV/AIDS for Texas counties from 1999-2008 provided by the Texas State Department of Health are used as the dependent variable. Explanatory variables for this research include: race/ethnicity, level of education, percent urban population, socioeconomic factors, and prevalence of unsafe sex, which is provided by the 2000 U.S. Bureau of the Census and the 2010 County Health Ranking Texas data (Population Health Institute, 2011). Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient is used for statistical analysis. The results suggest that race/ethnicity, level of education, percent urban population, unsafe sex, and socioeconomic factors are significant determinants of the HIV/AIDS rate among youths and teens in Texas counties. Higher HIV/AIDS rates tend to appear in counties with high percent Black population, high percent urban population, high chlamydia rates, high percentage of people with a bachelor’s degree or higher, and high percentage of single-parent households. HIV/AIDS rates are not uniformly distributed across Texas, therefore ascertaining the significant correlations with high rates of the disease will ensure effective targeting of interventions.