A Critical Literature Review to Identify Possible Causes of Higher Rates of HIV Infection Among Young Black and Latino Men Who Have Sex With Men

An Event-Level Comparison of Risk-Related Sexual Practices Between Black and Other-Race Men Who Have Sex with Men: Condoms, Semen, Lubricant, and Rectal Douching

“…Last event activities were compared across racial groups (Black, White, Hispanic/Latino, and Asian/Pacific Islander) controlling for relevant sociodemographic and partner characteristics and stratifying by sexual position (receptive/insertive/both). Consistent with previous literature reporting equal or lesser risk-taking among Black MSM, 13,14,18,25 we hypothesized that relative to other races, a higher or not significantly different proportion of Black MSM would endorse condom use and a lower or not significantly different proportion would report semen exposure, rectal douching, and lubricant use.…”

“…13,14 However, they nonetheless highlight a need for continued promotion of safer sex among MSM of all races. Across our total sample, 50% of MSM reported forgoing condom use altogether at their most recent male-partnered sexual event; further, some who reported condom use reported such use to be incomplete.…”

“…13 A parallel literature review by Feldman 14 that focused exclusively on young MSM generally echoed these same patterns, reporting similar or lower rates of unprotected PAI, similar or fewer sexual partners, and similar rates of commercial sex activity among Black MSM versus MSM of other races. A recent meta-analysis by Millett and colleagues 15 aggregating data from 174 U.S. studies published between 1981 and 2011 indicated that Black MSM report less unprotected PAI with main partners, similar rates of unprotected PAI with casual partners, greater condom use, fewer recent and lifetime male sexual partners, and greater use of pre-or post-exposure prophylaxis than other MSM, but also higher participation in sex work.…”

“…[13][14][15][16][17] However, dismissal of sexual risk-related behavior as a contributing factor to racial disparities in HIV infection is premature in the absence of evidence derived from more precise and comprehensive behavioral measures. The lack of specificity typically involved in PAI-related risk measures clouds assessment of the actual level of risk averted.…”

Thriving and Adapting: Resilience, Sense of Community, and Syndemics among Young Black Gay and Bisexual Men

“…They further urged scholars to acknowledge the majority of GBM do not, in fact, become HIV positive, participate in high risk sexual behavior, or experience psychosocial health outcomes associated with syndemics. Indeed, a long-lingering paradox of the high rates of infection among Black GBM remains: they consistently report less risk behavior than their non-Black counterparts (Feldman, 2010;Millett, Flores, Peterson & Bakeman, 2007).The largely unwritten story is that even though Black GBM contend with a multitude of social stressors, a sizable number of GBM must have reservoirs of resilience to mitigate and withstand negative sexual and psychosocial health outcomes. Despite the call for a resilience-based approach to the study of syndemics (Herrick et al, 2011;Wilson et al, 2014), the empirical syndemics literature continues to focus on the identification of risk factors that make men vulnerable to syndemics (Dyer et al, 2012;Egan et al, 2011;Herrick et al, 2012Herrick et al, , 2014.…”