Clark Shelley
Associate Professor of Sociology, Canada Research Chair in Youth, Gender, and Global Health, McGill University, Stephen Leacock Building, Room 713. 855 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 2T7.
Demogr Res. 2010;22:1-28. doi: 10.4054/DemRes.2010.22.1.
Extra-marital sexual partnerships (EMSPs) are a major route of HIV/AIDS transmission in sub-Saharan Africa. In this paper, we investigate the roles of two types of male friendships - best friends and friends with whom they talk about AIDS - in determining whether men have EMSPs. Using data from men in rural Malawi, we find that men's current extra-marital sexual behavior is most closely correlated with their best friends', but that the behaviors of both types of friends are associated with men's subsequent EMSPs. These findings suggest that men's friendships could be used to help combat the AIDS epidemic.
婚外性伴侣关系是撒哈拉以南非洲地区艾滋病毒/艾滋病传播的主要途径。在本文中,我们研究了两种男性友谊——最好的朋友以及与之谈论艾滋病的朋友——在决定男性是否有婚外性伴侣关系方面所起的作用。利用马拉维农村地区男性的数据,我们发现男性当前的婚外性行为与他们最好的朋友的行为关联最为紧密,但这两类朋友的行为都与男性随后的婚外性伴侣关系有关。这些发现表明,男性的友谊可用于帮助抗击艾滋病疫情。