The Associations of Resilience and HIV Risk Behaviors Among Black Gay, Bisexual, Other Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM) in the Deep South: The MARI Study.

Abstract

Resilience is an understudied intrapersonal factor that may reduce HIV risk among men who have sex with men (MSM). Multivariable Poisson regression models were used to estimate the prevalence ratio (PR) of sexual risk behaviors, HIV prevalence, and history of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) with resilience scores in a population-based study among 364 black MSM in the Deep South. Participants with higher resilience scores had a lower prevalence of condomless anal sex with casual sexual partners in past 12months (PR=0.80, p value=0.001) and during their last sexual encounter (PR=0.81; p value=0.009). Resilience was inversely associated with a lower prevalence of condomless anal sex with main sexual partners, participating in a sex party/orgy and having a STI in the past 12months. Resilience may have a protective effect on HIV among black MSM, especially in the Deep South, and should be further explored in studies with prospective designs.