title: Depression, Compulsive Sexual Behavior, and Sexual Risk-Taking Among Urban Young Gay and Bisexual Men: The P18 Cohort Study.
abstract: Young gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (YMSM) are at increased likelihood of experiencing depression and engaging in condomless sexual behaviors. The goal of the current investigation was to examine the relationship between negative mood and compulsive sexual behavior (CSB) and to assess for their individual and combined influence on sexual risk-taking behavior among a diverse sample of YMSM in New York City (the P18 Cohort Study). We first analyzed sociodemographic, depressive symptoms, CSB, and sexual risk-taking from the cross-sectional data of 509, 18- or 19-year-old YMSM recruited using non-probability sampling. We found a significant positive correlation between CSB and depression and between CSB and frequency of condomless anal sex acts reported over the last 30 days. Multivariate results found that the presence of both depression and CSB contributed to elevated sexual risk-taking among these urban YMSM. Clinical implications include the importance of assessing for CSB when depression is present and vice versa in order to improve HIV prevention. Informed by minority stress theory and syndemic theory, our results suggest that interventions focused on the health of YMSM recognize that mental health and social context all interact to increase physical health vulnerability vis-a-vis sexual behaviors, depression, and CSB. Thus, HIV prevention and intervention programs need to incorporate mental health components and services that address these needs.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.|Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, CA, USA.|Center for Health, Identity, Behavior & Prevention Studies (CHIBPS), New York Univeristy, 726 Broadway, Suite 525, New York, NY, 10003, USA.
authors: Erik David
authors: ED
authors: Storholm
authors: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.|Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, CA, USA.
authors: Derek D
authors: DD
authors: Satre
authors: Center for Health, Identity, Behavior & Prevention Studies (CHIBPS), New York Univeristy, 726 Broadway, Suite 525, New York, NY, 10003, USA.|Global Institute of Public Health, New York University, New York, NY, USA.|Department of Population Health, Langone School of Medicine, New York University, New York, NY, USA.
authors: Farzana
authors: F
authors: Kapadia
authors: Center for Health, Identity, Behavior & Prevention Studies (CHIBPS), New York Univeristy, 726 Broadway, Suite 525, New York, NY, 10003, USA. pnh1@nyu.edu.|Global Institute of Public Health, New York University, New York, NY, USA. pnh1@nyu.edu.|Department of Population Health, Langone School of Medicine, New York University, New York, NY, USA. pnh1@nyu.edu.
authors: Perry N
authors: PN
authors: Halkitis
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001727:Bisexuality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology*; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009519:New York City / Q000453:epidemiology; D047568:Unsafe Sex / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Compulsive sexual behavior; Depression; HIV; Sexual orientation; Sexual risk; YMSM