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A Comparative Analysis of Sexual Risk Characteristics of Black Men Who Have Sex with Men or with Men and Women

  • Original Paper: Black and Latino Male Bisexualities Special Section
  • Published:
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An Erratum to this article was published on 07 August 2008

Abstract

Many behavioral studies of Black men fail to differentiate between those who have sex exclusively with men (MSM) and those who have sex with both men and women (MSMW). Respondent-driven sampling was used to recruit a total of 1,154 Black MSM and MSMW in New York City and Philadelphia. In descriptive analyses, MSMW and MSM were compared on several demographic, health, and behavioral risk correlates using chi-square tests. Differences in prevalence of unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) between these two groups were examined in two multivariate logistic regressions. Age, country of birth, self-identified sexual orientation, experience of being forced to have sex, self-reported HIV status, exchange sex for money/food/ drug, and drug use in the past 3 months were significantly associated with either insertive or receptive UAI in the past 3 months. The strongest correlate of either insertive or receptive UAI among both groups of men was engaging in exchange sex. Differences between MSMW and MSM were found in the areas of forced sexual experiences, disclosure of same sex behavior, and history of being arrested or incarcerated. Findings from our study highlight the need for specific HIV prevention interventions targeting Black MSMW as distinguished from Black MSM.

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Notes

  1. Recall that in order to be eligible for the study, participants had to have reported sex with a man (including oral sex, anal sex or mutual masturbation) during the past 12 months; thus, all men in this study had MSM experiences.

  2. Only 27 men reported being Black and Latino and three participants did not respond to the racial identification item.

  3. Non-injecting drugs use includes any use of crystal methamphetamines, cocaine, “crack,” marijuana, heroin, poppers, and ecstasy.

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Acknowledgments

This work is the result of a collaborative effort. The authors would like to thank the investigators and staff at each of the funded sites, CDC staff, as well as members of participating community advisory boards and community-based organizations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work, Hunter College of the City University of New York, 129 E. 79th Street, New York, NY, 10075, USA

    Darrell P. Wheeler & Laurens G. Van Sluytman

  2. Research and Evaluation, Philadelphia Health Management Corporation, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Jennifer L. Lauby

  3. HIV Epidemiology Program, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York, NY, USA

    Kai-lih Liu & Christopher Murrill

Authors
  1. Darrell P. Wheeler
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  2. Jennifer L. Lauby
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  3. Kai-lih Liu
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  4. Laurens G. Van Sluytman
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  5. Christopher Murrill
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Darrell P. Wheeler.

Additional information

An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10508-008-9390-5

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Wheeler, D.P., Lauby, J.L., Liu, Kl. et al. A Comparative Analysis of Sexual Risk Characteristics of Black Men Who Have Sex with Men or with Men and Women. Arch Sex Behav 37, 697–707 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-008-9372-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-008-9372-7

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