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Body Image and Condomless Anal Sex Among Sexual Minority Men Living with HIV

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Abstract

The interaction of body dissatisfaction and appearance investment (importance and effort ascribed to appearance) in relation to condomless anal sex has not previously been examined. Body dissatisfaction in the context of varying degrees of appearance investment may yield divergent sexual risk outcomes. Sexual minority men living with HIV (N = 105) completed a battery of self-report measures. A generalized linear model identified a significant interaction [b = 0.08 (95% CI 0.01, 0.16), p = 0.033] such that when appearance investment was low, body dissatisfaction was associated with fewer condomless anal sex acts; when appearance investment was high, body dissatisfaction was associated with increased condomless anal sex.

Resumen

La interacción de la insatisfacción corporal y la inversión en la apariencia (la importancia y el esfuerzo atribuido al aspecto) en la relación con sexo anal sin condón no ha sido previamente investigado. La insatisfacción corporal en el contexto de varios puntos de la inversión en la apariencia puede ceder resultados divergentes de riesgo sexual. Los hombres de minoría sexual que están viviendo con VIH (N =105) completaron un conjunto de medidas de autoinforme. Un modelo lineal generalizado identificó una interacción significativa (b = 0.08 [95% CI 0.01, 0.16], p = 0.033) que cuando la inversión en la apariencia fue baja, la insatisfacción corporal fue asociada con menos actos sexuales anales sin condón; cuando la inversión en la apariencia fue alta, la insatisfacción corporal fue asociada con un aumento de actos sexuales anales sin condón.

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Acknowledgements

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number K23MH096647 (Blashill), the Harvard University Center for AIDS Research/National Institute of Health [5P30 AI060354-08] (Walker overall PI, Blashill substudy PI) and 9K24DA040489 (Safren). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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Correspondence to Aaron J. Blashill.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. All procedures performed in studies were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Massachusetts General Hospital and Fenway Health Institutional Review Boards.

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Gholizadeh, S., Rooney, B.M., Merz, E.L. et al. Body Image and Condomless Anal Sex Among Sexual Minority Men Living with HIV. AIDS Behav 22, 658–662 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-017-1763-0

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