Abstract
The purpose of this study was to model the relationships between dispositional tendencies towards sexual risk seeking (sexual adventurism) and engaging in risky behaviors (e.g., unprotected anal intercourse and recreational drug use). We analyzed data collected at semiannual assessments, between 1984 and 1993, from gay/bisexual participants in both the Chicago Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) and the Coping and Change Study (CCS). Factor analysis on 34 items from the CCS questionnaires guided the construction of an index of “sexual adventurism/risk-seeking” which was then used in univariate and multivariate analyses to determine its relationship, across time, with the outcome behaviors of drug use and risky sex. Path analysis models then assessed the relative importance of sexual adventurism and drug use covariates for predicting risky sex in subsequent assessments. Sexual adventurism was significantly associated with both substance use and risky sex at all time periods. Multivariate analyses revealed this relationship to be independent of drug use; however, this was not true for the association between risky sex and drugs. Path analysis confirmed the causal links (either direct or mediated by drug use) between sexual adventurism and risky sex. Substance use had little, if any, direct association with high-risk sexual behavior when sexual adventurism was included in the models. These findings support the existence of a common underlying dispositional factor, sexual adventurism/risk seeking, that would be a major determinant of the association between risky sex and drug use among gay men. Similar findings from other studies indicate the wider potential applicability of sexual adventurism/risk-seeking measures and suggest the need for focused intervention efforts in targeting this subgroup of high-risk individuals.
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Ostrow, D.G., DiFranceisco, W. & Kalichman, S. Sexual Adventurism, Substance Use, and High-Risk Sexual Behavior: A Structural Modeling Analysis of the Chicago MACS/Coping and Change Cohort. AIDS Behav 1, 191–202 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:AIBE.0000002980.89501.1b
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:AIBE.0000002980.89501.1b