UNITED STATES: Correlates of Sex Trading Among Drug-Using Men Who Have Sex with Men

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

UNITED STATES: Correlates of Sex Trading Among Drug-Using Men Who Have Sex with Men

American Journal of Public Health (11.04); Vol. 94; No. 11: P. 1998-2003 - Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Peter A. Newman, PhD; Fen Rhodes, PhD; Robert E. Weiss, PhD

The authors examined correlates of trading sex for money, drugs, shelter or food among drug-using MSM in Long Beach, Calif. The researchers recruited 387 African-American, Latino and white MSM from public parks, beaches and street corners, through fliers posted at social service agencies, and through limited "snowball sampling." Eligibility criteria included use of illicit drugs (not including marijuana) at least once in the past 30 days and for at least 2 days of the past 90, having engaged in sexual behavior with another male in the past 60 days, and being at least 18 years old.

Recruiters offered participants $30 to participate in a 90- minute audio computer assisted self-interviewing questionnaire. Participants answered questions by checking off a box on a laptop computer screen while the computer verbalized questions over headphones. Interviewers provided technical assistance and administered practice questions to familiarize participants with the procedures.

The mean age of participants was 37.8 years. More than half (57.6 percent) were African American, almost one-third (29.7 percent) were white and 12.7 percent were Latino. Most (43.8 percent) self-identified as bisexual; 39.1 percent as gay; 14 percent as heterosexual and 3.1 percent as transgender. Just under two-thirds (62.8 percent) reported a high school education or less. Nearly 60 percent reported current homelessness. The majority of participants - 82.2 percent - reported childhood sexual abuse, parental violence, or both.

The researchers found a sex-trading prevalence of 62.5 percent. Sex trading was associated with crack use, injection drug use, childhood maltreatment, nongay self-identification and homelessness. The authors found no association between methamphetamine use and sex trading.

"Interventions for MSM who trade sex may need to target drug dependence and economic hardship to prevent HIV infection risk behaviors," the authors concluded. "In addition, programs that are overtly identified as gay (e.g., housed in gay service organizations) may be unlikely to reach the high proportion of MSM who trade sex but do not self-identify as gay. Our largely African American sample of MSM also suggests that we may need to overcome the frequent stereotypification of high-risk, drug-using MSM as European American methamphetamine users to facilitate innovations in targeted HIV prevention interventions for men who engage in sex trading."
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