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Association between Recent Criminal Justice Involvement and Transactional Sex among African American Men Who Have Sex with Men in Baltimore

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Abstract

Non-Hispanic Black/African American men who have sex with men (AAMSM) have been disproportionately affected by criminal justice (CJ) involvement and HIV. One potential pathway between CJ involvement and high HIV prevalence and incidence among AAMSM is through risky sexual behavior. The goal of this study was to explore the association between recent CJ involvement, i.e., having been arrested and/or in prison/jail in the past 6 months, and transactional sex in a sample of AAMSM in Baltimore. We analyzed the baseline data of 396 AAMSM from a pilot behavioral HIV intervention conducted in Baltimore, MD, between October 2012 and November 2015. A multivariate logistic regression model was conducted to explore the association between recent CJ involvement and transactional sex. A total of 65 (16%) participants reported recent CJ involvement, and 116 (29%) reported transactional sex in the past 90 days. After adjusting for age, education, employment, sexual identity, HIV status, and drug use, recent CJ involvement was significantly associated with transactional sex (AOR 3.31; 95% CI 1.72; 5.70). Being 24–40 years (AOR 2.73; 95% CI 1.17, 6.33) or over 40 years older (AOR 3.80; 95% CI 1.61, 8.98) vs. younger and using drugs (AOR 4.47; 95% CI 2.43, 8.23) also remained independently associated with recent transactional sex. Findings of the current study contribute to the literature on the association between recent history of CJ involvement and transactional sex among AAMSM. More evidence-based HIV prevention interventions for people involved in the CJ system who are at high risk for contracting HIV, particularly racial and sexual minorities such as AAMSM, are urgently needed.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by R01DA031030 and R01DA040488 from the National Institute of Drug Abuse, R00AA020782 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, R01MD013495 from National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, R34MH116725 from the National Institute of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Center for AIDS Research (P30AI094189).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Cui Yang, Karin Tobin & Carl Latkin

  2. Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, USA

    Nick Zaller

  3. Clinical and Translational Science Center, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA, USA

    Catie Clyde

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  1. Cui Yang
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Correspondence to Cui Yang.

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Yang, C., Zaller, N., Clyde, C. et al. Association between Recent Criminal Justice Involvement and Transactional Sex among African American Men Who Have Sex with Men in Baltimore. J Urban Health 97, 635–641 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-019-00350-8

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