Background: We investigated sexual-orientation differences in typologies of self-reported familial and non-familial warmth in childhood (before age 11) and adolescence (ages 11-17); and tested whether warmth explained sexual minority emerging adults' (ages 18-25) heightened odds of having heavier alcohol use trajectories (AUTs) and heightened risk for past-year alcohol use disorder (AUD) compared to completely heterosexuals.
Methods: Using self-reported data from the U.S.
Context: Compared with cisgender (nontransgender), heterosexual youth, sexual and gender minority youth (SGMY) experience great inequities in substance use, mental health problems, and violence victimization, thereby making them a priority population for interventions.
Objective: To systematically review interventions and their effectiveness in preventing or reducing substance use, mental health problems, and violence victimization among SGMY.
Data Sources: PubMed, PsycINFO, and Education Resources Information Center.
Aims: We estimated sexual-orientation differences in alcohol use trajectories during emerging adulthood, and tested whether alcohol use trajectories mediated sexual-orientation differences in alcohol use disorders (AUDs).
Design: Longitudinal self-reported survey data from the Growing Up Today Study.
Setting: United States.
Objectives: We sought to calculate HIV incidence in a retrospective cohort of young (13-29 years old) black men who have sex with men (YBMSM) accessing repeated HIV-antibody testing in a mid-size city in the USA.
Methods: We aggregated site-specific HIV-antibody testing results from the project's inception among YBMSM who received an initial negative result and accessed at least one additional HIV-antibody test. From these data, we assessed number of seroconversions and person-years and calculated HIV incidence using a mid-P exact test to estimate 95% CIs.
Bisexual men experience significant health disparities likely related to biphobia. Biphobia presents via several preconceptions, including that bisexuality is transitory, and that bisexual men act as viral bridges between men who have sex with men and heterosexual populations. We analyzed data from a prospective cohort of gay and bisexual men, the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study, to test these preconceptions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThough functional social support has been shown to serve as a protective factor for HIV viral load suppression in other populations, scant research has examined this relationship among men who have sex with men (MSM) in the United States. We assessed characteristics of social support, effects of social support on HIV viral load, and moderation by social support of the relationship between psychosocial indicators of a synergistic epidemic (syndemic) and HIV viral load. We analyzed longitudinal data from HIV-positive MSM using antiretroviral therapy who were enrolled in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study between 2002 and 2009 (n = 712).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: The objective of this study is to determine associations between intertwining epidemics (syndemics) and HIV medication adherence and viral load levels among HIV-positive MSM and to test whether adherence mediates the relationship between syndemics and viral load.
Design: We analysed participant data collected between 2003 and 2009 from the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study, a prospective HIV/AIDS cohort study in four U.S.
Introduction: Men who have sex with men and women (MSMW) have been shown in cross-sectional studies to suffer HIV-related health disparities above and beyond those found among men who have sex with men only (MSMO). We conducted a secondary data analysis over a 7-year time frame of participants in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study, a long-standing prospective cohort study, to examine whether MSMW had persistently higher rates of depression symptoms, polydrug use, and (among HIV-positive men who have sex with men) HIV viral load levels compared with MSMO.
Methods: Men were behaviorally defined as bisexual if they reported sexual activity with at least 1 male and 1 female partner between study waves 38 and 50.
Objectives: To estimate the number of men who have sex with men and women who are HIV-positive in the United States, and to compare HIV prevalence rates between men who have sex with men and women, men who have sex with men only, and men who have sex with women exclusively.
Methods: Following PRISMA guidelines, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of reports referencing HIV prevalence and men who have sex with men and women. We searched PubMed and Ovid PsycINFO for peer-reviewed, U.
Objectives: We investigated attitudes about and acceptance of anal Papanicolaou (Pap) screening among men who have sex with men (MSM).
Methods: Free anal Pap screening (cytology) was offered to 1742 MSM in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study, who reported history of, attitudes about, and experience with screening. We explored predictors of declining screening with multivariate logistic regression.
Soc Work Public Health
March 2014
The impacts of public and private funding of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) health research, the state of integration of LGBT health issues into the academic and professional training programs of health care practitioners, and the larger social reality experienced by LGBT people profoundly affect substance use and substance use disorders in those populations. This analysis uses a social work perspective and considers the current state of research, professional training, and social oppression as they affect the health of LGBT people. Suggestions for action are offered that may improve the health of LGBT peoples and the practice of social work.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFToo many people with HIV have left the job market permanently and those with reduced work capacity have been unable to keep their jobs. There is a need to examine the health effects of labor force participation in people with HIV. This study presents longitudinal data from 1,415 HIV-positive men who have sex with men taking part in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhile there have been attempts to explore the association of obesity and risky sexual behaviors among gay men, findings have been conflicting. Using a prospective cohort of gay and bisexual men residing in Pittsburgh, we performed a semi-parametric, group-based analysis to identify distinct groups of trajectories in body mass index slopes over time from 1999 to 2007 and then correlated these trajectories with a number of psychosocial and behavioral factors, including sexual behaviors. We found many men were either overweight (41.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study aimed to examine trajectories with respect to the number of sexual partners among older men who have sex with men and to determine characteristics associated with trajectory groups. Nagin's group-based modeling was used to identify trajectories for 237 men from the Pitt Men's Study with respect to the number of male intercourse partners from age 50.0 to 59.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhile the intersection of HIV/AIDS and intimate partner violence (IPV) has gained increased attention, little focus has been given to the relationship among minority men and men who have sex with men (MSM). This pilot study, conducted at an urban clinic, explores the IPV experiences of HIV-positive persons involved in both heterosexual and homosexual relationships. Fifty-six HIV-positive individuals were interviewed to assess for verbal, physical, and sexual IPV, and for HIV-related abuse and attitudes regarding routine IPV screening.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFConducting health research often requires a partnership between marginalized communities and researchers. Community organizers can broker this partnership in a way that not only produces important scientific discoveries but also brings needed resources to the communities. This article is a description of a community advisory board established in 1984 to advise researchers on a longitudinal study of the natural history of AIDS among gay men.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: This study investigated levels of adherence to antiretroviral therapy in white, Hispanic, and black men and isolated factors associated with adherence among each racial group.
Methods: Data were collected from 1102 men enrolled in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study followed between April 2002 and October 2006. Self-reported 100% adherence was defined as taking all doses and pills over the previous 4-day period, reporting not typically skipping any medications, and reporting always following the medication schedule.
Young men's sexual experiences with men are different from their sexual experiences with women because of homophobia. Early sexual debut with another man could lead to tobacco use as a result. The study assessed 691 HIV-negative gay men recruited from southwestern Pennsylvania.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Acquir Immune Defic Syndr
August 2006
Background: In the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), maximizing health-related quality of life (QOL) has become a high priority of long-term management of HIV-infected individuals. Modifiable determinants of lower QOL should be identified for interventions specifically targeted to the HAART-using individuals to improve their QOL.
Objective: To identify the predictors for lower QOL among HAART-using study participants in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study, a longitudinal study of HIV infection among homosexual and bisexual men in 4 cities.
We describe the efforts of a 4-city campaign to recruit Black and Hispanic men who have sex with men into an established HIV epidemiological study. The campaign used community organizing principles and a social marketing model that focused on personnel, location, product, costs and benefits, and promotion. The campaign was developed at the community, group, and individual levels to both increase trust and reduce barriers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFResearchers disagree on how to assess adolescent sexual orientation. The relative importance of various dimensions (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF