Abstract
Sexual minority men (SMM) remain disproportionately burdened by sexually transmitted infections. Although gay community involvement has been theorized to be protective against many negative health outcomes, research examining the association between community involvement and condomless anal sex (CAS) has yielded conflicting results. The current study, conducted between 2018–2020, examined whether the importance one places on various aspects of community involvement was associated with CAS among a sample of young adult SMM aged 18–34 years with body image concerns (N = 180). Gay community involvement was measured using the Importance of Gay Community Scale, and the results of an exploratory factor analysis indicated the presence of two factors: “social activism” and “going out/nightlife.” A zero-inflated Poisson regression was conducted to examine the association between gay “social activism,” “going out/nightlife,” and their interaction with the number of CAS partners. Upon examining a significant interaction, “social activism” had a protective effect against CAS at low levels of “going out/nightlife,” but this effect was non-significant at higher levels. These results suggest that encouraging gay community involvement through activism could be effective at reducing CAS and addressing the health disparity that exists within this population.
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This work was supported by the NIMHD under grant number R01MD012698. Approval for this study was obtained from the Institutional Review Board at San Diego State University, and the procedures in this study adhere to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki. Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in the study.
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Albright, C.A., Kimball, D., Brady, J.P. et al. Gay Community Involvement and Condomless Anal Sex Among Sexual Minority Men in the USA. Arch Sex Behav 51, 2523–2533 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-022-02308-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-022-02308-5