Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Jan;30(1):81-85.
doi: 10.1080/09540121.2017.1381327. Epub 2017 Sep 29.

Discordance of voluntary HIV testing with HIV sexual risk-taking and self-perceived HIV infection risk among social media-using black, Hispanic, and white young-men-who-have-sex-with-men (YMSM)

Kelsey A Alexovitz  1 , Roland C Merchant  2   3 , Melissa A Clark  4 , Tao Liu  1 , Joshua G Rosenberger  5 , Jose Bauermeister  6 , Kenneth H Mayer  7
Affiliations

Discordance of voluntary HIV testing with HIV sexual risk-taking and self-perceived HIV infection risk among social media-using black, Hispanic, and white young-men-who-have-sex-with-men (YMSM)

Kelsey A Alexovitz et al. AIDS Care. 2018 Jan.

Abstract

Discordance between self-perceived HIV risk and actual risk-taking may impede efforts to promote HIV testing among young adult men-who-have-sex-with-men (YMSM) in the United States (US). Understanding the extent of, and reasons for, the discordance of HIV risk self-perception, HIV risk-taking and voluntary HIV testing among black, Hispanic and white YMSM could aid in the development of interventions to increase HIV testing among this higher HIV risk population. HIV-uninfected 18-24-year-old black, Hispanic, and white YMSM were recruited from across the US through multiple social media websites. Participants were queried about their voluntary HIV testing history, perception of currently having an undiagnosed HIV infection, and condomless anal intercourse (CAI) history. We assessed the association between previous CAI and self-perceived possibility of currently having an HIV infection by HIV testing status using Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel testing. Of 2275 black, Hispanic and white social media-using 18-24 year-old YMSM, 21% had never been tested for HIV voluntarily, 87% ever had CAI with another man, 77% believed that it was perhaps possible (as opposed to not possible at all) they currently could have an undiagnosed HIV infection, and 3% who reported CAI with casual or exchange partners, but had not been tested for HIV, self-perceived having no possibility of being HIV infected. Of 471 YMSM who had not been HIV tested, 57% reported CAI with casual or exchange partners, yet self-perceived having no possibility of being HIV infected. Per the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test results, among those reporting HIV risk behaviors, the self-perception of possibly being HIV-infected was not greater among those who had never been tested for HIV, as compared to those who had been tested. Future interventions should emphasize promoting self-realization of HIV risk and translating that into seeking and accepting voluntary HIV testing among this higher HIV risk population.

Keywords: HIV Testing; YMSM; self-Perceived risk; sexual risk; social media.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Brown E (2000). Theoretical Antecedents to HIV Risk Perception. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, 6(6), 177–182. doi: 10.1067/mpn.2000.112606 - DOI
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2016). HIV Surveillance Report, 2015. Atlanta, GA: United States Public Health Service.
    1. Merchant RC, Clark MA, Liu T, Rosenberger JG, Romanoff J, Bauermeister J, & Mayer KH (2017). Preferences for oral fluid rapid HIV self-testing among social media-using young black, Hispanic, and white men-who-have-sex-with-men (YMSM): implications for future interventions. Public Health, 145, 7–19. doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2016.12.002 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pringle K, Merchant RC, & Clark MA (2013). Is self-perceived HIV risk congruent with reported HIV risk among traditionally lower HIV risk and prevalence adult emergency department patients? Implications for HIV testing. AIDS Patient Care STDS, 27(10), 573–584. doi: 10.1089/apc.2013.0013 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. van der Velde FW, van der Pligt J, & Hooykaas C (1994). Perceiving AIDS-related risk: accuracy as a function of differences in actual risk. Health Psychol, 13(1), 25–33. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources