Birth order among homosexual men

Nicolosi and Byrd in 2002 summarized empirical research on birth order and sexual orientation in men, which research has documented that homosexual men have a later birth order than heterosexual men. They did not, however, note a more refined analysis of an earlier null finding by Siegelman. This 1998 reanalysis by Blanchard, Zucker, Siegelman, Dickey, and Klassen also confirmed the later birth order of homosexual men.     

The fallacy of intimacy: sexual risk behaviour and beliefs about trust and condom use among men who have sex with men in South Africa

The objective of this study is to assess (1) whether beliefs about trust and condom use affect sexual risk behaviour, and (2) if beliefs about trust and condom use impact sexual risk behaviour directly or if this relationship is mediated by other determinants. The Information-Motivation-Behavioural Skills model was used as a framework for the mediation analysis. A diverse cohort of three hundred 18-40 year old men who have sex with men (MSM) residing in Pretoria, South Africa, were recruited and surveyed for this project. Findings indicate that men who report a high frequency of past unprotected anal intercourse are more likely to believe that it is not necessary to use condoms with a trusted or steady partner regardless of their current partnership status. This fallacy of intimacy appears to affect sexual risk behaviour through intentions and attitudes regarding safer sex practices. Based on these findings, we recommend that more attention be given in gaining a better understanding of how beliefs about trust and condom use are formed and how they can be changed among MSM in South Africa.     

Use of mental health services among severely emotionally disturbed children and adolescents in San Francisco

This study examined the mental health services available to severely emotionally disturbed children and adolescents in San Francisco. Social, familial, developmental, and clinical data—as well as service use histories—on 192 youths were collected. Results indicated high levels of family dysfunction, physical and sexual abuse, and neglect in the total study population. The study also identified case history and demographic factors that were associated with repeated psychiatric inpatient hospitalizationand high annual rates of change in residential placement. These factors included being male, older, non-English-speaking, and having a history of physical and sexual abuse. The impact of the service system on the lives and course of illness of these youth is discussed and future directions for research are suggested.     

The relationship between psychosocial factors and condom use among African-American adolescents

The present investigation explored the relationship between psychosocial factors and condom use by African-American adolescents. Two hundred twenty-nine males, aged 14 to 19 years, responded to a health behavior survey that gathered information on demographics, HIV knowledge, perceived certainty of future condom use, present and past use of condoms, and intention to use condoms in the next six months. Several psychological variables, including sexual self-efficacy and self-esteem, were also measured. It was found that the majority of participants were sexually active by age 13, had four or more lifetime sexual partners, and were using condoms regularly. Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that sexual self-efficacy predicted perceived certainty of condom use. In addition, self-esteem and sexual self-efficacy predicted intention to use condoms. These findings highlight the need to develop HIV prevention curricula for African-American male adolescents that not only emphasize the potential risks associated with having multiple sexual partners, but also include components to enhance self-worth and sexual self-efficacy.     

The prediction of condom use intention among South African university students

A questionnaire was administered to 294 sexually active, unmarried undergraduate students to investigate the role of social norms in the prediction of the intention to use condoms. Components of social cognitive theory and the theory of reasoned action and planned behaviour were integrated with those of the Health Belief Model to predict future intention to use condoms with a new partner. Logistic regression analyses of selected risky sexual behaviours on the intention to use condoms showed that, among males, attitudes towards using condoms and the Health Belief Model component of perceived barriers predicted the intention to use condoms. The Health Belief Model component of perceived benefits could not be interpreted. Attitudes, subjective norms and perceived self-efficacy were associated with female students' intention to use condoms. Implications for strategies of HIV/AIDS prevention are discussed.     

Correlates of condom use and condom‐use motivation among young South Africans

A survey of South African secondary school students aged 12–17 years (n = 893) included measures designed to investigate relationships between beliefs about HIV/AIDS, condom use, interpersonal relationships, and two dependent measures: motivation to use condoms and reported condom use. We predicted that motivation would be an important correlate of reported condom use and that traditional cultural beliefs included in social cognition models would predict condom use motivation. Hierarchical multiple regression showed that 10% of the variance in reported condom use was accounted for by condom use motivation and age. Condom self‐efficacy, beliefs about condoms and injunctive norms accounted for much of the variance. Other beliefs included susceptibility to HIV and attribution of HIV to asexual sources such as witchcraft indicating that an expanded model of modifiable cognitions may be optimal when designing HIV interventions among young South Africans.     

Childhood photographs of homosexual and heterosexual men

20 homosexual men and 20 heterosexual men, including a pair of discordant identical twins, contributed photographs of themselves at 6 mo. to 6 yr. of age for judging on personality. 18 traits were rated successfully. Factor analysis yielded two factors, Extroversion and Toughness. Data for only 19 homosexual and 11 heterosexual men were usable for the t tests; no significant differences were found, although trends for the homosexual group suggested less Extroversion and less Toughness. For the twins, photographs the mother identified as the homosexual twin were rated as showing less Extroversion and less Toughness. In conclusion, no obvious differences were found in the ratings of homosexuals' childhood photographs but slight differences were hinted at.     

Personality profiles of homosexual men and women

There has been surprisingly little research on possible differences between homosexual and heterosexual personalities, although the few studies that have been conducted suggest some interesting differences. We devised two hypothesis that may account for these differences. First, differences appear to reflect generalized social nonconformity and alienation due to the social stigmatization of the homosexual. Second, these differences seem to express a more specific tendency to deviation from socially normative sex roles. The two hypotheses imply a number of predictions concerning specific personality traits, which were tested by comparing the 16PF (Cattell, Eber, & Tatsuoka, 1970) personality profiles of a group of male (N = 34) and female (N = 31) homosexuals with those obtained from the two large student samples (male, N = 899 and female, N = 912) whose scores are commonly used as norms for the South African version of the 16PF. The findings suggested reasonably good support for the two hypotheses, particularly considering the limitations of the study with respect to the adequacy of the comparison groups used and the relative heterogeneity of the 16PF scale content.     

Barriers to condom use in primary and nonprimary relationships among Hispanic STD clinic patients

Some programs designed to reduce the spread of AIDS and other STDs encourage consistent condom use among sexually active, at-risk individuals. A random sample of 283 Hispanic men and women seeking services at a public STD clinic in New York City were surveyed in an examination of differences in their attitudinal patterns, normative beliefs, and practices related to condom use with primary and nonprimary sex partners. 60% of the participants were male. The group was of mean age 30.9 years, with 46% having graduated from high school. 44.5% were born in the US, although 73.8% had lived in mainland US for the previous ten years or longer. 52.7% were single, 19.8% married, and the remaining 27.5% were either divorced, separated, or widowed. Only 3.2% of men and women reported having same-sex relationships, although the authors suggest that the respondents may have underreported the extent of their bisexual and homosexual behavior. 58.3% of men and 53.3% of women reported having had a prior STD, 82.2% of men and 74.8% of women had experience using a condom, and 31.3% of men and 13.3% of women reported having nonprimary partners. Both the men and women report that they are more likely to use condoms in nonprimary than primary relationships and that they perceive fewer barriers to doing so. Issues related to trust and social acceptability are more salient in primary relationships. Interventions to promote condom use among Hispanics must acknowledge the different psychosocial influences upon condom use in different relationships and target the specific attitudinal and behavioral changes desired.     

Domestic violence among homosexual partners

Is domestic violence more frequent in homosexual partnerships? The 1996 National Household Survey of Drug Abuse, based upon a random sample of 12,381 adults aged 18 to 59 years, estimated that 828,900 men and 828,678 women engaged in homosexuality in the prior 12 months. Random surveys indicated that at any given time, 29% of homosexual men and 32% of homosexual women are in same-sex partnerships. The National Criminal Victimization Survey for 1993 to 1999 reported that 0.24% of married women and 0.035% of married men were victims of domestic violence annually versus 4.6% of the men and 5.8% of the women reporting same-sex partnerships. Domestic violence appears to be more frequently reported in same-sex partnerships than among the married.     

Factors shaping condom use among South African university students: a thematic analysis

This study aimed to investigate contextual influences on condom use by South African university students. Twenty one-to-one, semi-structured interviews were conducted with male and female South African undergraduates. The data were thematically analysed. Results revealed that condom use was transient and often unrelated to disease prevention. Condom use was impeded by closer perceived intimacy, gender dynamics, and social stigma against proposing use of condoms in a presumably committed relationship. Public health policies regarding condom, pill and injection pricing / promotion, and religious toleration also hampered condom use, by encouraging a preference over hormonal contraception or proscribing contraceptive measures altogether. The results provide a basis for considering the impact of immediate and wider social contexts on condom use, as proposed by socio-ecological models of HIV risk behaviour.     

Demographic correlates of constant condom use among sex workers in Tangail, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Consistent condom use, particularly by promiscuous individuals, is a major safeguard against sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS. This study examines some demographic factors that may affect such use among Bangladeshi female commercial sex workers at a brothel in Tangail (n = 196; mean age = 23.44 years), and the streets of Dhaka (n = 112; mean age = 25.92 years). The chi2 results indicated that sex workers over 19 years of age were 2.52 times more likely than adolescents under 19 to work on the street rather than at a brothel (chi2 = 8.73, p < .0.01, OR = 2.52, 95% CI = 1.35-4.72). Brothel sex workers aged over 19 years reported 3.26 probability to regularly use condom with clients than those adolescents aged below 19 years (chi2 = 6.23, p < 0.01, OR = 3.26, 95% CI = 1.25-8.53). This study found age to be a significant demographic correlate of regular condom use, particularly, among the brothel workers.     

Drug use and unprotected anal intercourse among gay men

Conducted a longitudinal study of 604 New York City gay men to examine the link between unprotected insertive and receptive anal intercourse and drug use with sex. Data spanning four 12-month periods from 1980 to 1987 indicated that the link between drug use and high-risk sex diminished as the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic progressed. Strong and significant cross-sectional associations (average r = .30, p less than .0001) were found between drug use with sex and both types of anal intercourse in the year prior to the onset of AIDS. By 1987 the magnitude of these associations was markedly reduced (average r = .09, p less than .05). Longitudinal results indicate that, although cessation of drug use with sex is associated with subsequent lower rates of unprotected anal intercourse, initiation of drug use with sex is not associated with subsequent increases in this sexual activity. These findings support both causal and noncausal interpretations of the link between substance use and high-risk sex among gay men.     

Predicting intention to use condoms in homosexual men: An application and extension of the theory of reasoned action

Abstract

A questionnaire based on the Theory of Reasoned Action was developed and tested to identify predictors of intention to use condoms. The questionnaire consisted of three original components: Behavioral Intentions, Attitudes and Subjective Normative Beliefs, and a new component, Behavioral Norms. Age of HIV antibody status were also collected. Internal consistency of the four components of the questionnaire was high: Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranged from 0.76 to 0.87. Logistic modelling identified the significant predictors of intentions to use a condom as Attitudes (Odds Ratio = 2.7, 95% CI 1.80?4.06, P < 0.001) and Behavioral Norms (Odds Ratio = 1.49,95% CI 1.06?2.11, P = 0.03). Contrary to the theory that demographic variables are not important predictive variables of intention, HIV antibody positive status and age were found to directly influence Behavioral Intentions to use a condom. About 50% of men older than 25 years of age intended to use a condom, irrespective of HIV status. Overall, 59% of men 25 years of age and younger intended to use a condom, but the percentage was affected by HIV status; 22% in men who were HIV positive and 63% in men who were HIV negative. These findings indicate that after modification, to include HIV antibody status, Age and Behavioral Norms, the Theory of Reasoned Action can identify significant predictors of intention to use a condom.     

Predicting intention to use condoms in homosexual men: an application and extension of the theory of reasoned action

A questionnaire based upon the Theory of Reasoned Action was developed and tested to identify predictors of intention to use condoms. Behavioral intentions, attitudes and subjective normative beliefs, behavioral norms, and age of HIV-positive status were included on the questionnaire. Internal consistency of the four components was high, with Cronbach's alpha coefficients of 0.76-0.87. Qualitative data were collected over 2 months from 194 homosexual men who participated in Sydney's homosexual community. Participants aged 17-64 years of mean age 29.5 attended individual interviews or small focus groups to discuss their views concerning condom use. 15% reported having tested HIV-positive, 59% tested negative, and 26% reported not knowing their HIV serostatus. According to logistic modeling, the significant predictors of intentions to use a condom were attitudes and behavioral norms, while HIV antibody positive status and age directly influence behavioral intentions to use a condom. About 50% of men over age 25 years intended to use a condom, irrespective of HIV status. Overall, 59% of men aged 25 years and younger intended to use a condom; 22% of HIV-positive men and 63% of HIV-negative men.