Open AccessMen Who have Sex with Men Who Believe that Their State has a HIV Criminal Law Report Higher Condomless Anal Sex than Those Who are Unsure of the Law in Their State
Author(s) -
Keith J. Horvath,
Craig S. Meyer,
B. R. Simon Rosser
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
aids and behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.994
H-Index - 106
eISSN - 1573-3254
pISSN - 1090-7165
DOI - 10.1007/s10461-016-1286-0
Subject(s) - health psychology , men who have sex with men , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , law , criminal law , state (computer science) , public health , legal psychology , psychology , criminology , anal sex , political science , medicine , family medicine , syphilis , computer science , nursing , algorithm
We assessed the effects of beliefs about state HIV criminal law on condomless anal sex (CAS < 3 months) among men who have sex with men (MSM) residing in 16 US states (n = 2013; M = 36 years old; 75 % White; 82 % HIV-negative) completing an online survey in 2010 and stratified by residency in a state with any or sex-specific HIV criminal law(s) or where a HIV-related arrest, prosecution, or sentence enhancement (APSE) had occurred. Three-quarters of MSM reported that they were unsure of the law in their state. Men who believed there was a HIV law in their state but lived in states without any or a sex-specific HIV criminal law(s) had higher probabilities of CAS compared to those who were unsure of their state's law; men who believed there was a HIV law in their state and lived in a state where an APSE had occurred had higher probabilities of CAS compared to those who were unsure of their state's law. Correct knowledge of state law was not associated with CAS. Findings suggest that HIV criminal laws have little or counter-productive effects on MSM's risk behavior.