Division of Community Engagement and Health Equity, Department of Population Health, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Health Discovery Building 4.814, 1601 Trinity Street, Austin, TX, 78712, USA.
The Population Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
Arch Sex Behav. 2021 May;50(4):1781-1792. doi: 10.1007/s10508-020-01784-x. Epub 2020 Jul 29.
Despite being grouped together in epidemiological risk categories, gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM) are not a homogenous group. In addition to traditional segmentation along race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, many GBM also identify with sexual subcultural communities. Previous research has shown differences across a variety of health outcomes between these sexual subcultural communities. The purpose of this study was to determine whether HIV prevention practices among GBM differed according to sexual subcultural community. The study was conducted in collaboration with a popular social and sexual networking smartphone application company. A total of 23,577 GBM responded to the survey. A latent class analysis identified 6 distinct classes related to sexual subcultural community identification. We found significant differences across sociodemographic characteristics, HIV prevention practices, and condomless anal sex in the past 6 months related to sexual subculture identification. Findings suggest that sexual subcultural identity is related to decision-making around HIV prevention among GBM. Differences in HIV prevention strategies are likely a function of group norms, unique shared experiences among GBM identifying with a particular sexual subculture community, and sociodemographic characteristics associated with these groups. As such, sexual subculture identity should be considered in developing interventions and social marketing campaigns to increase uptake of biomedical HIV prevention tools among GBM. Identifying group norms and shared experiences related to HIV prevention practices among sexual subcultures is necessary to understand the role these identities play in lives of GBM, especially as it relates to their sexual health and well-being.
尽管在流行病学风险类别中被归为一类，但男同性恋、双性恋和其他与男性发生性关系的男性（GBM）并不是一个同质群体。除了传统的种族、族裔和社会经济地位划分外，许多 GBM 还认同性亚文化群体。先前的研究表明，这些性亚文化群体之间在各种健康结果方面存在差异。本研究旨在确定 GBM 的 HIV 预防实践是否因性亚文化群体而异。该研究是与一家受欢迎的社交和性网络智能手机应用公司合作进行的。共有 23577 名 GBM 对调查做出了回应。一项潜在类别分析确定了 6 个与性亚文化群体认同相关的不同类别。我们发现，与性亚文化认同相关的社会人口统计学特征、HIV 预防实践以及过去 6 个月内无保护肛交行为存在显著差异。研究结果表明，性亚文化认同与 GBM 预防 HIV 决策有关。HIV 预防策略的差异可能是群体规范、与特定性亚文化群体认同相关的独特共同经历以及与这些群体相关的社会人口统计学特征的函数。因此，在制定干预措施和社会营销活动以增加 GBM 对生物医学 HIV 预防工具的采用时，应考虑性亚文化认同。确定与 HIV 预防实践相关的性亚文化群体规范和共同经历，对于了解这些身份在 GBM 生活中的作用是必要的，特别是当涉及到他们的性健康和福祉时。
