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The Risk of HIV/STDs Infection and Transmission Among Never-Married Male Migrants in China: Is Risk Attributable to Bachelorhood or Migration?

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Abstract

In the context of sex-ratio imbalance and rural-to-urban migration in China, never-married male migrants may become a vulnerable group as well as a bridge population that facilitates HIV/STDs transmission. It is still not clear, however, whether increased HIV/STDs transmission risk can be attributed to bachelorhood, migration, or both. This study identified the contributions of bachelorhood and migration to an increased risk of HIV/STDs infection, as well as the risk of HIV/STDs transmission across populations and regions. Data were from a cross-sectional questionnaire survey, in which 180 never-married non-migrant males in rural areas, 558 never-married male migrants, and 302 married male migrants in urban areas of China were interviewed in 2017. Results showed that never-married male migrants are more likely to engage in commercial sex and unsafe sex than never-married non-migrant males, and their likelihood of engaging in unsafe sex was also higher than married male migrants. Although never-married male migrants were less likely to have multiple sex partners than married male migrants, they were more likely to have multiple sex partners and sex partners from different regions than never-married non-migrant males. These findings indicate that both migration and bachelorhood increase the risk of HIV/STDs infection for never-married male migrants, and migration also increases the risk of HIV/STDs transmission across populations and regions.

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Acknowledgements

Data collection for this study was possible thanks to financial support of National Natural Science Foundation of China (71573202). We are very grateful for the funding.

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  1. Institute for Population and Development Studies, School of Public Policy and Administration, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China

    Huijun Liu

  2. Institute for Population and Development Studies, School of Public Policy and Administration, Xi’an Jiaotong University, 28 Xianning West Road, Xi’an, 710049, Shaanxi, China

    Hui Wang

  3. Morrison Institute for Population and Resource Studies, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Marcus Feldman

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Liu, H., Wang, H. & Feldman, M. The Risk of HIV/STDs Infection and Transmission Among Never-Married Male Migrants in China: Is Risk Attributable to Bachelorhood or Migration?. Arch Sex Behav 50, 3115–3124 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-02015-7

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