Amsterdam 2015
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| Abstract #2394 - Mad about the boy - MSM II | ||||
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Session: 41.4: Mad about the boy - MSM II (Parallel) on Thursday @ 16.30-18.00 in C104 Chaired by Hycienth Ahaneku, Jeffrey Kelly Authors: Presenting Author: Prof Kyung-Hee Choi - University of California, San Francisco, United States |
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| Additional Authors: | ||||
| Aim: Experiences of stigma related to homosexuality are highly prevalent among men who have sex with men (MSM) in China. The direct association between MSM stigma and sexual risk for HIV has been found among MSM in China and elsewhere. However, the mechanisms (mediators) through which stigma impacts sexual risk behaviors are not well understood. | ||||
| Method / Issue: We recruited a longitudinal sample of 493 MSM (aged 18+) in Beijing, China from June 2011 to September 2012. Participants completed a computer-based questionnaire at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months. We conducted path analyses to examine the potential mediating roles that avoidant and social support coping with MSM stigma, psychological distress, and encountering difficult sexual situations might play in explaining the effects of “internalized” (internalization of negative attitudes toward MSM), “anticipated” (anticipations of discrimination against MSM), and “enacted” MSM stigma (personal experiences of discrimination against MSM) on sexual risk. | ||||
| Results / Comments: Path analyses revealed that internalized MSM stigma at baseline had neither direct nor indirect effects on unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) at 12 months. However, anticipated MSM stigma at baseline had a positive direct effect (odds ratio [OR] = 1.25, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.01 - 1.56) as well positive indirect effects via avoidant and social support coping at baseline, psychological distress at 6 months, and encountering difficult sexual situations at 12 months (OR = 1.08, 95% CI = 1.03 - 1.14). Enacted MSM stigma had a positive indirect effect on UAI at 12 months via encountering difficult sexual situations at 12 months (OR = 1.12, 95% CI = 1.06 - 1.21). | ||||
| Discussion: Our results suggest the need to develop HIV prevention strategies for MSM in China that address three mechanisms ~- maladaptive coping, psychological distress, and difficult sexual situations ~- that link MSM stigma to Chinese men’s sexual risk for HIV. | ||||
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