Life chaos and social support among methamphetamine-using men who have sex with men engaging in commercial sex encounters
Abstract
Background: Men who have sex with men accounted for 78% of the new HIV infections from 2007-2010 and are at an increased risk of contracting HIV due to substance use, unprotected anal sex, and multiple sex partners (CDC, 2012; CDC, 2014). Thus, I wanted to understand the demographic and psychosocial characteristics of methamphetamine-using MSM engaging in commercial sex encounters (CSE). The main objective of the study was to investigate the significance of life chaos, social support, and risk factors in methamphetamine-using men who have sex with men (MSM) engaging commercial sex encounters (CSE). Materials and Methods: 325 HIV-negative methamphetamine-using MSM who completed a questionnaire about recent substance use, sexual behavior, and various psychosocial measures through online recruitment procedures. Chi-square tests were carried out to obtain significant (p < 0.05) associations between risk factors and social support, life chaos, and engagement in CSE. The risk factors with significant associations obtained from the bivariate analysis were put in a logistic regression model to obtain adjusted odds ratios (aOR). Results: Engagement in CSE was associated with high life chaos (OR = 1.7, 95% CI = [1.01, 2.84]). High life chaos was associated with low social support (aOR = 3.78, 95% CI = [2.31, 6.22]) and being out to most or all people they knew (aOR = 2.29, 95% CI = [1.18, 4.42]). Low social support was associated with being Hispanic/Latino (aOR = 0.48, 95% CI = [0.25, 0.92]) and high life chaos (aOR = 3.97, 95% CI = [2.40, 6.57]). Conclusions: This study is significant because of its contribution to our understanding of the associations between risk factors, social support, life chaos, and the participation in CSE among methamphetamine-using MSM. It is also helps characterize life chaos and social support among methamphetamine-using MSM. This study introduces a new population who may engage in casual CSE rather than formal transactional CSE.
Subject Area
Mental health|GLBT Studies|Public health|Public policy
Recommended Citation
Viswanath, Humsini, "Life chaos and social support among methamphetamine-using men who have sex with men engaging in commercial sex encounters" (2014). Texas Medical Center Dissertations (via ProQuest). AAI1569956.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/dissertations/AAI1569956