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The Association Between Men’s Concern About Demonstrating Masculine Characteristics and Their Sexual Risk Behaviors: Findings from the Dominican Republic

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Abstract

Quantitative analyses exploring the relationship between masculinities and men’s sexual risk behaviors have most commonly used one dimension of masculinities: men’s gender ideology. Examining other dimensions may enhance our understanding of and ability to intervene upon this relationship. In this article, we examined the association between gender role conflict/stress (GRC/S)—men’s concern about demonstrating masculine characteristics—and three different sexual risk behaviors (having two or more sex partners in the last 30 days; never/inconsistent condom use with non-steady partners; and drinking alcohol at last sex) among a sample of heterosexual men in the Dominican Republic who were participating in an HIV prevention intervention (n = 293). The GRC/S Scale we used was adapted for this specific cultural context and has 17 items (α = 0.75). We used logistic regression to assess the relationship between GRC/S and each sexual behavior, controlling for sociodemographic characteristics. In adjusted models, a higher GRC/S score was significantly associated with increased odds of having two or more sex partners in the past 30 days (AOR 1.33, 95 % CI 1.01–1.74), never/inconsistent condom use with non-steady partners (AOR 1.45, 95 % CI 1.04–2.01), and drinking alcohol at last sex (AOR 1.56, 95 % CI 1.13–2.17). These results highlight the importance of expanding beyond gender ideology to understanding the influence of GRC/S on men’s sexual risk behaviors. Interventions should address men’s concern about demonstrating masculine characteristics to reduce the social and internalized pressure men feel to engage in sexual risk behaviors.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Martha Perez, Miriam Nova, Riqui Rosario, and Nicolas González for their assistance in recruitment and data collection. This project was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, through Grant UL1TR000050. We are grateful to the Carolina Population Center for training support (T32 HD007168) and for general support (R24 HD050924). P.J. Fleming was supported by the UNC STD/HIV training Grant (T32AI007001) and subsequently by a NIDA training Grant (T32DA023356). Fieldwork was generously supported by the Explorations in Global Health Award from the UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Disease, UNC Carolina Population Center’s Research Residency Award, the Mellon Dissertation Fellowship from UNC’s Institute for the Study of the Americas, and the Koch Travel Award from the Gillings School of Global Public Health at UNC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan School of Public Health, 1415 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-2029, USA

    Paul J. Fleming

  2. Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Paul J. Fleming, Clare Barrington & Wizdom Powell

  3. Population Council, Washington, DC, USA

    Ann Gottert

  4. Clinica de Familia, La Romana, Dominican Republic

    Leonel Lerebours

  5. HIV Vaccine Trials Unit, Instituto Dermatológico y Cirugía de Piel, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

    Yeycy Donastorg

  6. Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Maximo O. Brito

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Fleming, P.J., Barrington, C., Powell, W. et al. The Association Between Men’s Concern About Demonstrating Masculine Characteristics and Their Sexual Risk Behaviors: Findings from the Dominican Republic. Arch Sex Behav 47, 507–515 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-016-0880-6

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