Lifetime Burden of Incarceration and Violence, Internalized Homophobia, and HIV/STI Risk Among Black Men Who Have Sex with Men in the HPTN 061 Study

Factors Correlated with Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Awareness and Use among Black Adults in the United States: Implications for Improving PrEP Uptake

“…Given the strong correlation between PrEP awareness with histories of incarceration and STI testing, it is possible that PrEP-aware individuals may have bene ted from their involvement in criminal justice systems and accessing sexual health clinics. In particular, the periods of incarceration and post-release have been shown to increase the potential risk of HIV and STI acquisition (33)(34)(35). In the present study, one in three Black adults had ever been STI diagnosed compared to one in ve nationally (36).…”

Factors predicting incarceration history and incidence among Black and Latino men who have sex with men (MSM) residing in a major urban center

“…A striking 32% of the population reported such violence in the prior 12 months. Although exposure to violence has been associated with increased risk of subsequent incarceration in other research [ 24 , 38 ], it is also well documented that MSM experience high rates of sexual and physical violence within custody [ 18 , 20 ]. Hence, some of the violent experiences reported may have occurred during, rather than prior to, the incarcerations MStudy participants reported at baseline.…”

“…Given the over representation of Black and Latino MSM in the criminal justice system nationally [ 1 , 2 , 6 ], the large jail population in Los Angeles County [ 35 ], and the confluence of health and incarceration risk factors in Los Angeles (e.g., high levels of poverty and homelessness [ 36 , 37 ], over 150,000 children referred to child welfare each year [ 38 ], and 22% of Black and 16% of Latino youth not finishing high school within five years [ 39 ]), we set out to examine predictors of incarceration history and incarceration incidence among Black and Latino participants in the MStudy—an ongoing prospective cohort study measuring factors linked to substance use and HIV transmission dynamics for MSM in Los Angeles, which focused on enrolling Black/African American and Latino/Hispanic MSM between 18 and 45 years [ 40 ]. Examination of factors associated with incarceration history is useful for identifying those factors that heighten risk of becoming incarcerated, as well as those that may stem from experiences of incarceration.…”

Characterisation of social support following incarceration among black sexual minority men and transgender women in the HPTN 061 cohort study

“…Psychosocial covariates included self-reported hard drug use32 (ie, heroin, crack/cocaine, methamphetamine, prescription misuse or other drugs) in the past 6 months; weekly marijuana use; currently has health coverage; lifetime incarceration; Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test score33 34; depressive symptoms based on Centres for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale35; physical and/or threatened violence due to race and/or sexuality, which is defined as reporting being threatened with and/or experiencing physical violence (ie, punched, kicked, beaten) that the participant attributed was due to their race and their sexuality36; perceived racism and homophobia, which was measured using items from the Racism and Life Experience Scales- Daily Life Experiences scale, with 20 items each regarding experiences related to race and sexuality such as being ignored or not given the same service37 38; and internalised homophobia, which was assessed by summing responses to a 7-item scale regarding how strongly participants agreed with statements such as ‘I wish I weren’t attracted to men,’ and ‘As a Black man, I try to act more masculine to hide my sexuality.’39 40 STI/HIV risk covariates including reporting sex with female partners in the past 6 months41; having received HIV testing32; transactional sex in the past 6 months; multiple partnerships defined as higher than the median (≥3)42; concurrent partnership defined as partners in addition to their primary partner in the past 6 months and currently cohabiting with primary partner.…”