title: The Association Between Men's Concern About Demonstrating Masculine Characteristics and Their Sexual Risk Behaviors: Findings from the Dominican Republic.
abstract: Quantitative analyses exploring the relationship between masculinities and men's sexual risk behaviors have most commonly used one dimension of masculinities: men's gender ideology. Examining other dimensions may enhance our understanding of and ability to intervene upon this relationship. In this article, we examined the association between gender role conflict/stress (GRC/S)-men's concern about demonstrating masculine characteristics-and three different sexual risk behaviors (having two or more sex partners in the last 30 days; never/inconsistent condom use with non-steady partners; and drinking alcohol at last sex) among a sample of heterosexual men in the Dominican Republic who were participating in an HIV prevention intervention (n = 293). The GRC/S Scale we used was adapted for this specific cultural context and has 17 items (α = 0.75). We used logistic regression to assess the relationship between GRC/S and each sexual behavior, controlling for sociodemographic characteristics. In adjusted models, a higher GRC/S score was significantly associated with increased odds of having two or more sex partners in the past 30 days (AOR 1.33, 95 % CI 1.01-1.74), never/inconsistent condom use with non-steady partners (AOR 1.45, 95 % CI 1.04-2.01), and drinking alcohol at last sex (AOR 1.56, 95 % CI 1.13-2.17). These results highlight the importance of expanding beyond gender ideology to understanding the influence of GRC/S on men's sexual risk behaviors. Interventions should address men's concern about demonstrating masculine characteristics to reduce the social and internalized pressure men feel to engage in sexual risk behaviors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan School of Public Health, 1415 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-2029, USA. pauljf@umich.edu.|Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. pauljf@umich.edu.
authors.forename: Paul J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Fleming
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Clare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Barrington
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Wizdom
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Powell
authors.affiliation: Population Council, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gottert
authors.affiliation: Clinica de Familia, La Romana, Dominican Republic.
authors.forename: Leonel
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lerebours
authors.affiliation: HIV Vaccine Trials Unit, Instituto Dermatológico y Cirugía de Piel, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
authors.forename: Yeycy
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Donastorg
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Maximo O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Brito
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004293:Dominican Republic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D057228:Masculinity; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D012747:Sexual Partners / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Alcohol; Condoms; Gender; HIV; Masculinity; Sexual concurrency