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Interpersonal Stigma, Mental Health, and Sexual Compulsivity Among an Online U.S. Sample of Men Who Have Sex with Men Living with HIV

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Abstract

This cross-sectional study sought to determine whether HIV-related interpersonal stigma was associated with the presence of sexual compulsivity (SC) in a national online sample of 936 men who have sex with men (MSM) living with HIV who reported recent suboptimal adherence to their antiretroviral therapy (ART) or virologic non-suppression. A modest association was found between perceptions of HIV-related interpersonal stigma and SC that was partially mediated by current mental health symptoms. White MSM were significantly more likely than Black MSM to report SC or HIV-related interpersonal stigma. Findings signal the need for therapeutic interventions that include behavioral and/or pharmacologic therapy to address overlapping intervention targets, including mental health, substance use, and sexual health. Future research should assess temporality of HIV-related interpersonal stigma and SC, as well as racial differences in relation to these constructs.

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Funding

This study was supported by a Grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH100973, PI: Hirshfield). A Certificate of Confidentiality was obtained from the National Institute of Mental Health to provide additional privacy protections for participants enrolled in this study (ClinicalTrials.gov #NCT02023580).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, 450 Clarkson Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, 11203, USA

    Sabina Hirshfield

  2. Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Kristen E. Lewis

  3. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, Brooklyn, NY, USA

    Michael Silver

  4. Division of Infectious Diseases, Departments of Medicine and Epidemiology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Rachel J. Gordon

Authors
  1. Sabina Hirshfield
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  2. Kristen E. Lewis
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  3. Michael Silver
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  4. Rachel J. Gordon
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Correspondence to Sabina Hirshfield.

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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.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Hirshfield, S., Lewis, K.E., Silver, M. et al. Interpersonal Stigma, Mental Health, and Sexual Compulsivity Among an Online U.S. Sample of Men Who Have Sex with Men Living with HIV. AIDS Behav 26, 1321–1331 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-021-03489-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-021-03489-1

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