Running the Risks: Drug Use, Psychosocial Issues, Internet Use, and Sex in Minority Gay and Bisexual Men

The United States is approaching the fourth decade of the HIV epidemic. Nearly 1.1 million individuals are infected with HIV and nearly one in five of those infected are unaware. Existing epidemiological data also suggest that gay or bisexual men and transgender women (GBT) are at highest risk for infection. The overall purpose of this research is to investigate HIV risk factors like Internet use, substance use, psychosocial issues, and sexual behavior in ethnic minority GBT individuals. This is accomplished by three individual studies involving different aspects of HIV risk in African American and Latino GBT populations. In addition, these studies also assess how the many factors of HIV risk that deal with substance use, psychosocial issues, and sexual behavior are oftentimes interconnected, structural, and societal. Each of the studies found sex while under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol reported by the respondents. The link among substance use and sexual risk is already known, but these studies demonstrated unique aspects to this relationship. Each of these studies also demonstrated that Internet sex-seeking, homosexual stigma, self-esteem, and sexual scripts may have relationships that impact unprotected anal intercourse, number of sex partners, and sex while under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. In addition, these studies suggest that Internet sex-seeking remained a popular practice among ethnic minority GBT individuals and very likely served as a pathway to HIV risk behavior. In total, the knowledge from each of these three studies adds to the current HIV prevention compendium and will hopefully assist in future efforts at reducing new infections.