Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Sexual Risk Behavior and Drug Use in Two Chicago Samples of Men Who Have Sex with Men: 1997 vs. 2002

  • Published:
Journal of Urban Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Employing data from two Chicago-based household probability samples of men who have sex with men (MSM) implemented 5 years apart (the “UMHS 1997” and the “2002 MSM supplement” studies), we evaluated changes in risk behavior as well as the potential viability of two alternative perspectives for explaining these changes—risk management and safe-sex norm abandonment. We found significantly increased rates of unprotected insertive and receptive anal intercourse in the 2002 study. Sixty-eight percent of UMHS men reported having sex with partners having HIV positive or unknown status, compared with 38% of the MSM supplement men (p < .0001). Serosorting mediated and moderated the most extreme forms of risk behavior. Positive statistical associations between drug use and unprotected sex were stronger in the UMHS sample than in the MSM supplement. Findings suggesting that “risk management” strategies have shaped MSM behavior as it emerged in the early part of this decade have considerable implications for HIV prevention strategies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Centers for Disease Control. Trends in HIV/AIDS diagnoses-33 states, 2001–2004. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2005;54:1149-1153.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Centers for Disease Control. HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report (Vol. 17., Rev.). Atlanta: Department of Health and Human Services, CDC: 2007-146; 2007. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/resources/reports/. Accessed February 22, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Gross M. The second wave will drown us. Am J Public Health. 2003;93:872-881.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Huebner DM, Rebchock GM, Kegeles SM. A longitudinal study of the association between treatment optimism and sexual risk behavior in young adult gay and bisexual men. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2004;37:1514-1519.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Cox J, Beauchemin J, Allard R. HIV status of sexual partners is more important than antiretroviral treatment related perceptions for risk taking by HIV positive MSM in Montreal, Canada. Sex Transm Infect. 2004;80:518-523.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Marcus U, Bremer V, Hamouda O, et al. Understanding recent increases in the incidence of sexually transmitted infections in men having sex with men: changes in risk behavior from risk avoidance to risk reduction. Sex Transm Dis. 2006;33:11-17.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Osmond DH, Pollack LM, Paul JR, Catania JA. Changes in prevalence of HIV infection and sexual risk behavior in men who have sex with men in San Francisco: 1997–2002. Am J Public Health. 2007;97:1677-1683.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Vanable PA, Ostrow DG, McKirnan DJ, Taywaditep KJ, Hope BA. Impact of combination therapies on HIV risk perceptions and sexual risk among HIV-positive and HIV-negative gay and bisexual men. Health Psychol. 2000;19:134-145.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Elford J, Bolding G, Sherr L. High-risk sexual behavior increases among London gay men between 1998-2001: what is the role of HIV optimism? AIDS. 2002;16:1537-1544.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Kalichman SC, Eaton L, White D, et al. Beliefs about treatment for HIV/AIDS and sexual risk behaviors among men who have sex with men, 1997-2006. J Behav Med. 2007;30:497-503.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Huebner DM, Gerend MA. The relation between beliefs about drug treatments for HIV and sexual risk behavior in gay and bisexual men. Ann Behav Med. 2001;23:304-312.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Ostrow DG. The role of drugs in the sexual lives of men who have sex with men: continuing barriers to researching this question. AIDS Behav. 2000;4:205-219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Ostrow DG, Fox KJ, Chmiel JS, et al. Attitudes towards highly active antiretroviral therapy are associated with sexual risk taking among HIV infected and uninfected homosexual men. AIDS. 2002;16:775-780.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Mansergh G, Colfax GN, Marx G, Rader M, Guzman R, Buchbinder S. The circuit party men’s health survey: findings and implications for gay and bisexual men. Am J Public Health. 2001;91:953-958.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Colfax GN, Mansergh G, Guzman R, et al. Drug use and sexual risk behavior among gay and bisexual men who attend circuit parties: a venue based comparison. J Acquir Immune Defic Rep. 2001;28:373-379.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. McKirnan DJ, Vanable PA, Ostrow DG, Hope B. Expectancies of sexual “escape” and sexual risk among drug and alcohol-involved gay and bisexual men. J Subst Abuse. 2001;13:137-154.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Catania JA, Paul J, Osmond D, et al. Mediators of childhood sexual abuse and high-risk sex among men-who-have-sex-with-men. Child Abuse Negl. 2008;32:925-940.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Eaton LA, Kalichman SC, Cain D, et al. Serosorting sexual partners and risk for HIV among men who have sex with men. Am J Prev Med. 2007;33:479-485.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Xia Q, Molitor F, Osmond DH, et al. Knowledge of sexual partner’s HIV serostatus and serosorting practices in a California population-based sample of men who have sex with men. AIDS. 2006;20:2081-2089.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Jinn F, Prestage GP, Ellard J, Klippax SC, Kaldor JM, Grulich AE. How homosexual men believe they became infected with HIV. The role of risk reduction behaviors. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2007;46:245-247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Halkitis PN, Zade DD, Shrem M, Marmor M. Beliefs about hiv noninfection and risky sexual behavior among MSM. AIDS Educ Prev. 2004;16:448-458.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Denning P, Campsmith M, Gallagher K. Unprotected anal intercourse between steady male partners with nonconcordant HIV serostatus. Abstract Presented at the 10th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, Boston, Mass. 2003. February 10–14; 10: abstract no. 920.

  23. Niccolai LM, Farley TA, Ayoub MA, Magnus M, Kissinger PJ. HIV-infected persons’ knowledge of their sexual partners’ HIV status. AIDS Educ Prev. 2002;14:183-189.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Truong HM, Kellogg T, Klausner JD, et al. Increases in sexually transmitted infections and sexual risk behavior without a concurrent increase in HIV incidence among men who have sex with men in San Francisco: a suggestion of HIV serosorting? Sex Transm Infect. 2006;82:461-466.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Gates G. Same-Sex Couples and the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Population: New Estimates from the American Community Survey. UCLA School of Law: The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy; 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Catania JA, Osmond D, Stall RD, et al. The continuing HIV epidemic among men who have sex with men. Am J Public Health. 2001;91:907-914.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Mackesy-Amiti ME, Fendrich M, Johnson TP. Prevalence of recent illicit substance use and reporting bias among MSM and other urban males. Addict Behav. 2008;33:1055-1060.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Chicago Department of Public Health. HIV/AIDS/STD. Chicago; November 2004.

  29. Chicago Department of Public Health. Chicago HIV/AIDS Brief. Men who Have Sex With Men. Chicago; December 2005.

  30. Office of Applied Studies. National survey on drug use and health. 2009. Available at: http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/nsduh.htm. Accessed April 17, 2009.

  31. StataCorp. Stata Statistical Software: Release 9. College Station, TX: StataCorp LP; 2005.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Benjamini Y, Hochberg Y. Controlling the false discovery rate: a practical and powerful approach to multiple testing. J R Stat Soc Series B Stat Methodol. 1995;57:289-300.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Rowniak S. Safe sex fatigue, treatment optimism, and serosorting: new challenges to HIV prevention among men who have sex with me. J Assoc Nurses AIDS Care. 2009;20:31-38.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Eaton LA, West TV, Kenny DA, Kalichman SC. HIV transmission risk among HIV seroconcordant and serodiscordant couples: dyadic processes of partner selection. AIDS Behav. 2009;13:185-195.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Aquilino W. Interview mode effects in surveys of drug and alcohol use: a field experiment. Public Opin Q. 1994;58:210-240.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Gribble JN, Miller HG, Cooley PC, Catania JA, Pollack L, Turner CF. The impact of T-ACASI interviewing on reported drug use among men who have sex with men. Subst Use Misuse. 2000;35:869-890.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Tourangeau R, Rips LJ, Rasinksi K. The Psychology of Survey Response. New York: Cambridge University Press; 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Turner CF, Ku L, Rogers SM, Lindberg LD, Pleck JH, Sonenstein F. Adolescent sexual behavior, drug use, and violence: increased reporting with computer survey technology. Science. 1998;280:867-873.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by National Institute on Drug Abuse Grant #R01DA018625.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Addiction and Behavioral Health Research, Helen Bader School of Social Welfare, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    Michael Fendrich PhD

  2. Community Outreach Intervention Projects, Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Mary Ellen Mackesy-Amiti

  3. Survey Research Laboratory, College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Timothy P. Johnson

  4. Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Lance M. Pollack

Authors
  1. Michael Fendrich PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mary Ellen Mackesy-Amiti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Timothy P. Johnson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Lance M. Pollack
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael Fendrich PhD.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fendrich, M., Mackesy-Amiti, M.E., Johnson, T.P. et al. Sexual Risk Behavior and Drug Use in Two Chicago Samples of Men Who Have Sex with Men: 1997 vs. 2002. J Urban Health 87, 452–466 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-009-9432-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-009-9432-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation