A Socio-Ecological Perspective on Alcohol Access, Social Capital, And High Risk Sexual Behaviors Among African American Men

Background: In Mississippi, African American men account for over half of all reported HIV cases.  Previous studies indicate that neither sexual risk behaviors nor drugs or alcohol use alone can explain the over-representation of HIV infection among African American men.  There is a critical need for research that addresses social and structural factors that influence both HIV infection and hazardous alcohol consumption among African American men in the South. 

The purpose of this study was to investigate alcohol access, alcohol consumption, social capital, and individual high-risk sexual behaviors among African American men residing in Jackson, MS. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 358 African American Men. Chi-squared tests and Logistic Regression were used to measure an association between the aforementioned variables. Results: In the study sample, the mean age of the participants was 25.3 years. Heterosexual men comprised 89 percent of the participants.  Approximately, 60 percent of the participants reported that they were currently working, and 34 percent reported a lifetime history of incarceration.  There was an association with sexual orientation, incarceration, number of sexual partners, sex with alcohol and drugs, hazardous alcohol consumption and sexual concurrency. In addition, there was an association between social capital and hazardous alcohol consumption, and there was a relationship with the interaction between off-premise alcohol access & social capital and hazardous alcohol consumption. Conclusion: Our findings can guide the development of new Alcohol Beverage Control policies and HIV interventions by considering societal, neighborhood, and individual factors that influence high-risk sexual behaviors.