Coparenting and sexual partner concurrency among white, black, and Hispanic men in the United States.

BACKGROUND

Concurrent sexual partnerships (partnerships that overlap in time) increase the spread of infection through a network. Different patterns of concurrent partnerships may be associated with varying sexually transmitted infection (STI) risk depending on the partnership type (primary vs. nonprimary) and the likelihood of condom use with each concurrent partner. We sought to evaluate coparenting concurrency, overlapping partnerships in which at least 1 concurrent partner is a coparent with the respondent, which may promote the spread of STIs.

METHODS

We examined sexual partnership dates and fertility history of 4928 male respondents in the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth. We calculated coparenting concurrency prevalence and examined correlates using Poisson regression.

RESULTS

Among men with ≤ 1 pair of concurrent partnerships, 18% involved a coparent. 33% of black men involved in coparenting concurrency were <25 years, compared to 23% of Hispanics and 6% of whites. Young black men (age, 15-24 years) were more likely to engage in coparenting concurrency than white men, adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, sexual and other high-risk behaviors, and relationship quality. Compared to white men aged 15 to 24 years, black and Hispanic men were 4.60 (95% confidence interval: 1.10, 19.25) and 3.45 (95% confidence interval: 0.64, 18.43) times as likely to engage in coparenting concurrency.

CONCLUSION

Almost 1 in 5 men engaging in concurrent sexual partnerships in the past year was a coparent with at least one of the concurrent partners. Understanding the context in which different types of concurrency occur will provide a foundation on which to develop interventions to prevent STIs.