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In the context of China's gender imbalance, this study addresses the characteristics of sexual networks and their association with condom use in a sample of 713 male migrants (aged 28-64) who have rural hukou (household registration) in China. Descriptive statistics, univariate analyses, and multilevel random intercept models were used to investigate the characteristics of sexual networks and their associations with condom use. We found that age, marital status, type of sex partners, support (the main help given to each sex partner by the participant), type of sexual intercourse, and stability of sexual relationships were associated with condom use. The sexual networks were mainly composed of sex partners of similar age (58.46%), unmarried people (50.53%), and regular partners (49.38%). Married male migrants were more likely to use condoms with casual partners; unmarried male migrants were less likely to use condoms in emotional and stable relationships. Variation in individual factors, sex partners, and sexual relationship characteristics contribute to participation in condomless sex by male migrants. HIV prevention strategies should target unmarried male migrants and their casual sex partners by increasing their awareness of the risk of HIV transmission and the availability of free condoms.

Young Black gay/bisexual men (YBGBM) are at disproportionate risk for poor health outcomes due to multilevel stressors, such as community- and individual-level discrimination. Racialized Sexual Discrimination (RSD) is an under-examined type of discrimination experienced by gay/bisexual men of color when seeking partners online. RSD may be a driving force behind sexual network restriction (which elevates YBGBM's risk for HIV infection) and may have an adverse impact on YBGBM's psychological wellbeing. Thus, adequate measurement of this phenomenon is essential. Focus groups with young gay/bisexual men of color were conducted to generate survey content that captured RSD experiences; the resultant information was used to develop an RSD scale. The scale, along with other sociodemographic measures, was administered to a sample of 634 YBGBM. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted on the scale. Results revealed an 8-factor structure: 1-White superiority; 2-White inferiority; 3-White rejection; 4-same-race rejection; 5-White physical objectification; 6-same-race physical objectification); 7-degradation; and 8-role assumptions. The scale was psychometrically sound and demonstrated good reliability, providing preliminary support for the scale's utility in social science research. Future research should further refine the scale and examine the association between RSD and sexual/mental health outcomes among YBGBM.

The rise of extramarital sex in China is often portrayed as a consequence of a normative shift, that is, the diversification of family and related values that has accompanied the country's move toward a less ideologically controlled society. We argue that the increase in extramarital sex is not only the result of a normative shift but also has been structurally determined by a reorganization of the labor market. We view job mobility, which was strongly discouraged in the prereform era, as a proxy for employee's independence from institutional control over sexual behavior. Using a male sample from the Shanghai Sexual Network Survey (SSNS), a citywide representative survey of Shanghai population aged eighteen to forty-nine, our analysis reveals that male job changers, particularly those whose new jobs are in the market sector, are associated with a significantly higher likelihood of engaging in extramarital sex than those who never change jobs.

Bhutan's sustained low HIV prevalence can be attributed to its political commitment to maintain isolation from foreign cultural influence. Recently, rising HIV prevalence has coincided with the increase in human traffic along Bhutan's borders. The majority of infections, occurring primarily through sexual contact, have appeared in the urban environments that are situated along the main transport routes. This qualitative study explored the sexual networks that form at entertainment venues in the capital city of Thimphu. To more fully understand sexual network formation at theses venues, one must take into account an emerging modernity that reflects a convergence of cultural, economic and political influences emanating from Bhutan's unique 'middle-path' modernisation scheme. The growing appearance of transactional sex in Thimphu not only points to an emergent form of exploitation wrought by larger economic transformations and widening social inequalities; the power inequalities that surround its practice are also significantly exacerbated by the local cultural politics and moral ideologies that arise as Bhutan proceeds along the path towards global capitalism. Discourses of Bhutanese sexual morality articulate with broader political economic transformations to forcefully position village women engaging in transactional sex within a field of power relations that leaves them open to various forms of subjugation.

Analyses of individual-level risk factors have not been able to adequately explain why HIV has spread so extensively in southern Africa and why this has occurred especially within certain racial or ethnic groups. Using data from a longitudinal study of a representative sample of adolescents aged 14-22 living in Cape Town, South Africa, this article presents evidence of how differences in individual-level risk factors as well as sexual network structures between different racial or ethnic groups may help explain the differential spread of HIV in South Africa. Particular emphasis is placed on how levels of partner concurrency, respondent concurrency, mutual concurrency, serial concurrency and numbers of sexual partners and an average early age of sexual debut combine in different ways in the different racial or ethnic groups to create networks of sexual partnerships that differ in the density of their interconnections and hence potential for HIV spread. These network-level differences offer a potential explanation for the observed generalised HIV epidemic seen among the population of black South Africans.

Disease transmission dynamics among members of a sexual network's core group make the group an ideal target for prevention for positives. Identifying the geographic territory of an HIV/AIDS core group is complicated by the numerous factors that may spatially structure cases including alcohol availability. We employ spatial analytic methods in an attempt to identify the geographic distribution of the core HIV/AIDS group.Five year HIV/AIDS detection rates were analyzed for each HIV/AIDS risk category (i.e., MSM, IDU, HRH) at the census tract level (n = 164) in New Orleans using spatial analytic techniques in multivariate models.MSM was the most common risk category for newly detected HIV cases. Both MSM and IDU cases appeared to decline or enter an endemic phase. Each risk category exhibited unique spatial structure. Among IDUs and HRHs nearly all the spatial structure was explained in terms of the independent variables. However, among MSMs residual spatial structure remained after controlling for independent variables.Residual spatial structure in the MSM HIV/AIDS detection rates after controlling for social structure could be explained by the presence of core group members. The study's limitations are noted.

The southern state of Andhra Pradesh (AP) has one of the highest rates of HIV-1 infection in India. Estimates of HIV infection in rural areas have begun to approximate the urban. Methods of HIV transmission in rural India are poorly understood. We examined risk factors for HIV transmission in a group of rural villages in AP through the use of a sexual-network analysis survey - the Indian Health and Family Life Survey (IHFLS). The study sample included 20 HIV-positive and 40 HIV-negative matched controls randomly selected from a population-based, voluntary counselling and testing program in rural AP. HIV-1 status was confirmed by Western Blot. The 405-item IHFLS is based upon the National Health and Life Survey which has been validated in the US and China. The sample mean age was 37 years and 22% were of a tribal caste. Among female respondents, none were commercial sex workers (CSWs) and there were no significant social or behavioral associations with HIV infection. Among male respondents, ever having bought sex and having more than one lifetime partner were found to be significantly associated with HIV infection (p=0.002 and p=0.017). Amongst sub-populations, all men who had sex with men (MSM) were married. Tribals were more likely to report a concurrent sexual relationship (p=0.04). All high-risk men, including MSM, men who buy sex and men with multiple lifetime female partners did not use condoms. Public health interventions aimed at reducing HIV transmission in rural AP should consider targeting sub-populations of men who engage in covert MSM or CSW, high-risk tribal caste members and at-risk wives.

This paper examines the potential impact of concurrent partnerships on HIV spread in Uganda using microsimulation. We represent a population of individuals, the sexual partnerships that they form and dissolve over time, and the spread of an infectious disease as a stochastic process. Data from the 1994 Ugandan sexual network survey are used to establish baseline outcomes, and the baseline is compared to sequential monogamy, increased concurrency and increased number of partnerships. The observed level of concurrency raises the number of infected cases by about 26% at the end of 5 years compared to sequential monogamy. Increasing both the number of partnerships and the rate of concurrency together has a stronger impact than increasing either alone. If risk behaviors were slightly higher at the start of the Ugandan epidemic, concurrency may have amplified the prevalence of HIV by a factor of 2 or 3. The public health implications are that data must be collected properly to measure the levels of concurrency ...

Drug injectors have simultaneously faced a devastating HIV/AIDS epidemic and an intense program of government repression and media demonization known as the “War on Drugs.” We address patterns of association (networks) among drug injectors; how these networks shape their norms toward condom use and safer sex; the extent to which drug injectors take it upon themselves to promulgate safer sex norms to others; and, on a different level of analysis, the extent to which drug injectors have created organizations to reduce HIV transmission and to deal with other problems. Data from 767 street-recruited Brooklyn drug injectors indicate that about half of their drug injector network ties, and of their sexual network ties, have lasted for at least five years; perceived peer norms supportive of condom use are widespread; almost half had told others (in the last month) that they should use condoms, and this was particularly likely among those in an ethnographically defined core group; consistent condom use w...

The AIDS epidemic in Africa depends on heterosexual behavior, about which little is known. National Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) surveys are a potentially important data source but are compromised because women report less—often, much less—sexual activity than men. This imbalance is investigated using questions on the type of activity (with regular or casual partners and involving compensation) and on the duration of abstinence (time since last act), as well as other socioeconomic variables. Evidence from a hazard analysis and other information suggest that the imbalance may originate in the failure of respondents to answer accurately rather than the systematic undersampling of particular respondents, such as prostitutes. If so, the imbalance does not reflect an epidemic driven by a small group of high-activity women—the core group model—but rather a more diffuse sexual network. The contrasting implications of these hypotheses for the dynamics of the epidemic have been stressed by the...