Open AccessBlack Men Who Have Sex With Men and the Association of Down-Low Identity With HIV Risk Behavior
Author(s) -
Lisa Bond,
Darrell P. Wheeler,
Gregorio A. Millett,
Archana Bodas LaPollo,
Lee Carson,
Adrian Liau
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.2007.127217
Subject(s) - anal sex , men who have sex with men , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , association (psychology) , demography , sexual identity , sexual behavior , psychology , homosexuality , medicine , identity (music) , clinical psychology , human sexuality , gender studies , family medicine , sociology , physics , syphilis , acoustics , psychotherapist , psychoanalysis
Black men "on the down low" have been considered prime agents of HIV transmission in the Black community despite little empirical evidence. We assessed the relationship between down-low identification and sexual risk outcomes among 1151 Black MSM. Down-low Identification was not associated with unprotected anal or vaginal sex with male or female partners. Future HIV prevention programs and research should target sexual risk behaviors of Black men, irrespective of identity, and not focus on the "down low."