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Population-Based Sexual Behavior Surveys in China: Liuzhou Compared with Other Prefectural Cities

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Abstract

Sexual behaviors in China are rapidly changing; simultaneously, sexually transmitted infections (STI)/HIV prevalence is increasing in the general population. To investigate these major shifts, we examined sexual behaviors and self-reported STI in one prefectural city in southern China, Liuzhou, and compared it to other prefectural cities throughout China. We used adults age 18–39 from two sets of population-based surveys that paralleled each other in both content and method. The first set was the Liuzhou survey conducted in 2008 (n = 398). The second set consisted of two national surveys collected in 2006 and 2010 (n = 2,186). Liuzhou respondents reported more active social and sexual behaviors than their national counterparts, including more socializing, dancing, drinking excessively, sexual activity among never married men and women, purchasing commercial sex among men, one-night stands among men, multiple sexual partnerships and self-reported STI among both men and women. Women in Liuzhou reported greater sexual risk behavior than their national counterparts, although overall they reported less than their male counterparts; they were also more likely to have had an abortion than women in other prefectural cities. Our findings provide a comprehensive overview of the sexual context of Liuzhou among the general population, which may help explain the greater STI/HIV prevalence in Liuzhou.

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Notes

  1. Administratively, “prefectural level cities” sit midway between the provincial capitals and the counties and county-level cities below them. The data described in this study draw only from the urban core (shiqu) of these administrative regions, and not from the surrounding rural hinterland in each prefecture. Nationwide, there were 284 prefectural cities in 2011. (See http://www.gov.cn/test/2005-06/15/content_18253.htm).

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Acknowledgments

The 2006 and 2010 national survey was funded by the Ford Foundation, Beijing Office and Important National Science & Technology Specific Projects of Chinese Government (2008ZX10102); the 2008 Liuzhou survey was funded by “Partnership for Social Science Research on HIV/AIDS in China” (NIH Grant #R24 HD056670, PI: Gail E. Henderson). The authors wish to thank the survey team members in Renmin University for their hard work in data collection (the Research Funds of Renmin University of China #10XNJ059), and the UNC Center for Aids Research (NIH Grant #P30 AI504010) and Malena Rousseau for their support in manuscript preparations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Institute of Sexuality and Gender, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China

    Yingying Huang & Suiming Pan

  2. Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University, 333 Trent Hall, Trent Drive, Box 90519, Durham, NC, 27708, USA

    Laurie Abler

  3. Department of Social Medicine, UNC School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Gail E. Henderson

  4. School of Philosophy and Social Development, Shandong University, Shandong, China

    Xin Wang

  5. Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China

    Xingliang Yao

  6. Sociology Department, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    William L. Parish

Authors
  1. Yingying Huang
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  2. Laurie Abler
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  3. Suiming Pan
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  4. Gail E. Henderson
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  5. Xin Wang
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  6. Xingliang Yao
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  7. William L. Parish
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Correspondence to Laurie Abler.

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Huang, Y., Abler, L., Pan, S. et al. Population-Based Sexual Behavior Surveys in China: Liuzhou Compared with Other Prefectural Cities. AIDS Behav 18 (Suppl 2), 118–125 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-013-0645-3

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