263299 Sex Exchange Among Very Poor Los Angeles Area Men Who Have Sex with Men: Associations with Partnership Type

Monday, October 29, 2012 : 1:00 PM - 1:15 PM

Ryan Murphy, MPH, PhD , Alcohol Research Group, Emeryville, CA
Pamina Gorbach, MHS, DrPh , Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Robert Weiss, PhD , Biostatistics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Steve Shoptaw, PhD , Department of Family Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Background: Exchanging sex for drugs/money/goods is a prominent risk factor for HIV. The objective of this analysis is to assess the association between sex exchange and partnership type among very poor men who have sex with men (MSM). Methods: Data are from Waves 1 and 2 (2005-2007) of the Los Angeles site for NIDA's Sexual Acquisition and Transmission of HIV Cooperative Agreement Program (SATH-CAP). Respondent driving sampling was used to recruit 798 low-income MSM who completed questionnaires containing detailed reports of partnership-specific behaviors with up to three sexual partners within the past 6 months (N=1,291). Primary variables of interest were homelessness (past year), sex exchange (past 6 months) and partnership type (main, regular, unknown, etc.). Separate logistic mixed models were fit to predict factors associated with each partnership type. Results: Sex exchange was reported in 27.5% of sexual partnerships, however only 5% were classified as trade. In multivariate models, trading sex for drugs/money/goods was positively associated with partnerships classified as regular (AOR: 2.18, 95%CI: 1.17-4.08), acquaintance (AOR: 1.72, 95%CI: 1.07-2.76) and trade (AOR: 2.42, 95%CI: 1.02-5.74) and negatively associated with one-time (AOR: 0.48, 95%CI: 0.27-0.84) partnerships. Homelessness was not significantly associated with any partnership type. Conclusions: Trading sex for drugs/money was more common among partnerships identified as regular, acquaintance or trade and less common among those classified as one-time. Findings dispel the notion that sex exchange among poor MSM occurs primarily with anonymous partners and suggests the need to consider partnership-level factors in sexual risk reduction efforts.

Learning Areas:
Epidemiology
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Explain the association between exchanging sex for drugs/money/goods and partnership type among very poor Los Angeles area men who have sex with men.

Keywords: Poverty, Sexual Risk Behavior

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I recently received my PhD from the UCLA School of Public Health Department of Epidemiology and I am currently a postdoctoral fellow with the Alcohol Research Group. I have been involved in several studies pertaining to HIV risk factors among low-income men who have sex with men. The proposed abstract was conducted as part of my doctoral dissertation.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.