Development of a theoretic model of sexual behaviors of immigrant Latino men

Background: Little is known about the intersections of immigration, masculinity, and sexual risk behaviors among recently arrived immigrant Latino men in the United States.

Methods: Nine immigrant Latino men from 3 urban housing communities in the Southeastern US used photovoice, an innovative qualitative research methodology, to identify, explore, share their lived experiences.

Results: Mean age of participants was 22.8; all self-identified as Latino; reported completing equivalent to eighth grade or below; and reported having had sexual intercourse with women as opposed to men in the past 2 years. From the participants' photographs and words, 13 themes emerged from the analysis of photo-discussions. These themes were organized into 4 domains: (1) the immigration experience and (2) sociocultural norms and expectations of masculinity as factors that the participants identified as decreasing Latino men's sense of power and increasing their stress, which in turn lead to sexual risk; and (3) Latino community strengths and (4) general community strengths as factors that the participants identified as promoting sexual health and preventing risk. These themes were compiled into a theoretic model developed by the participants to explain sexual risk of immigrant Latino men.

Conclusions: This study obtained rich qualitative insight into the lived experiences of immigrant Latino men in a region of the US that is experiencing both the fastest growing immigrant Latino population in the country and disproportionate HIV and STD infection rates. The theoretic model, developed by Latino men themselves, requires further exploration and may prove useful in intervention development.