Health Education Research Advance Access published online on February 16, 2008
Health Education Research, doi:10.1093/her/cyn003
Perceived condom norms and HIV risks among social and sexual networks of young African American men who have sex with men
1 Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, PO Box 5010, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA
2 School of Medicine, Emory University, 69 Jesse Hill Jr Drive SE, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA
3 Division of Reproductive Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway NE, MS K34 Atlanta, GA 30324, USA
4 Division of Health Communications, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE, MS E-69 Atlanta, GA 30333, USA and
5 Department of Anthropology, Northern Arizona University, PO Box 1520, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA
Correspondence to: * Correspondence to: J. L. Peterson. E-mail: jpeterson{at}gsu.edu
The association between condom norms and unprotected sexual intercourse was examined within social and sexual networks of young African American men who have sex with men (MSM) in an HIV epicenter of the southern United States. We used a chain-link design to recruit 158 young African American men: 95 initial participants, 56 contacts of participants (alters) and 7 contacts of alters. Men in the high-risk group, compared with those in the no-risk group, perceived significantly lower approval concerning condom use in their social and sexual networks. Also, 100 participants could be connected to each other in 86 dyads of social and sexual networks. Within these dyads, men perceived that their friends and acquaintances approved for them to use condoms but that their friends and acquaintances did not use condoms themselves. Low HIV risk behavior appears associated with perceived social norms that support one's use of condoms, even when perceived norms do not support condom use by network members themselves.
Received on March 11, 2007; accepted on December 26, 2007