Associations between the sexual behaviour of men who have sex with men and the structure and composition of their social networks

Abstract

Objective: This exploratory study identified associations between the number of sexual partners reported by men who have sex with men (MSM) and the structure and composition of their social networks. Methods: A cross sectional survey was conducted of men recruited as key informants, through advertising and chain referral. A face to face interview was conducted with 206 MSM. The interview included information on the number of sexual partners in the previous year and sociodemographic and behavioural characteristics of the participant. Social networks were enumerated and network size and density were calculated. Ordered logistic regression was used to assess the associations between number of sexual partners and personal and network characteristics. Results: The number of anal sex partners reported was higher if the participant had injected drugs in the past year rather than never having injected (odds ratio, 95% confidence interval: 3.23, 1.28 to 8.15), decreased with network density (0.014, 0.002 to 0.008) and increased if the network did not comprise only HIV negative people (1.77, 1.05 to 2.99). The number of additional oral sex partners increased with network size (1.06, 1.02 to 1.10) and decreased with increased network density (0.034, 0.006 to 0.205). In addition to similar effects of network size (1.05, 1.01 to 1.09) and network density (0.086, 0.013 to 0.563) the model for the number of additional manual sex partners also included age (1.03, 1.01 to 1.05). Conclusion:The density of the social networks of MSM appears strongly and consistently associated with patterns of sexual behaviour. This underlines the importance of using network approaches to understanding the sexual behaviour of MSM and their potential value in identifying novel strategies for intervention.T he composition and structure of the social networks of injecting drug users (IDU) have been found in a number of studies to be implicated in the sexual and drug use risk behaviours of IDU.1 2 To date, the social networks of MSM have been the subject of little research. One study found that having network members who were diagnosed with AIDS was associated with lower rates of unsafe sex.3 Beyond that finding, it is not known whether the composition and structure of the social networks of MSM are associated with sexual behaviour. The purpose of the present report is to explore associations between the number of sexual partners MSM report and the structure and composition of their social networks. METHODS Study sampleDuring 2002 we recruited 206 homosexual and bisexual men. Five were key informants (2.4%), 77 were recruited through chain referral (37.4%), and 124 (60.2%) through advertising in the gay press in Melbourne, Australia. Data collectionThe men completed an interviewer administered survey which took 60-90 minutes. MeasuresThe interview included information on the men's county of birth, education, employment status, income, HIV status, and sexual history. The number of sexual partners in the previous year was assessed as the number of men ...

Social networks of men who have sex with men: a study of recruitment chains using Respondent Driven Sampling in Salvador, Bahia State, Brazil

“…In relation to the description of networks, friendship network proved to reflect the closest relationships, with more recent contact, unlike the overall network, which showed more distant relationships (acquaintances). The mean number of links dropped from 133 in the sexual partner network to 18 MSM in the friendship network, similar to findings from other studies 34,35,36,37 . Recruiters had a mean of 12 MSM friends, reinforcing the tendency towards very close social relations among individuals in the friendship network.…”

“…Studies on sexually transmitted infections have shown that in some networks, a high number of sexual partners is related to large size of the social network of MSM 19,37 , which our study corroborated for both casual and steady partners. Although some correlations were moderate, they were statistically significant, indicating that the more the links among MSM, the more the sexual partners.…”

“…Identification of the relationship between network size and number of sexual partners confirms the importance of the size of personal network in sexual behavior among MSM with more links 19,30,36,37,42 .…”

“…In the recruitment chains in Salvador (Figure 1), the mean number of MSM with whom the participants reported links in their personal network of relationships proved high (133 MSM), when compared to both the mean number in all 10 cities in the multicenter study (85 MSM) and the mean number of links reported by other studies on friendship networks and sexual behavior 34,35,36,37 . This number is close to the human capacity to relate to other persons in a large social network, or approximately 150 persons 15 .…”

Social Support, Stress and Social Network Characteristics Among HIV-Positive Latino and African American Women and Men Who have Sex with Men

“…Social network characteristics such as network size, composition and density have also been influential in sexually transmitted disease transmission and injection drug use behavior [22][23][24][25]. In a study of sexual behaviors and the composition of social networks among an MSM study group, high risk sexual behaviors were correlated with the number of network members who were HIVpositive, the number of high risk sexual partners and the proportion of people in the network who knew each other (eg network density) [23].…”