American Gay Men Research Articles

Social Supports Among Vietnamese American Gay Men

Vietnamese American gay men are a relatively new sub-group among minority groups in America today. In many Asian cultures, an identification as gay may be perceived as a rejection of Asian cultural values. This study examines some of the cultural and familial characteristics which may suggest unique burdens and the need for additional social supports as perceived by 20 self-identified Vietnamese American gay men who have “come out.” Most respondents reported use of support systems within the gay and lesbian community, rather than dependence on traditional sources of support in the Vietnamese American community, such as family members or religion.

The Challenge of Staying HIV-Negative for Latin American Immigrants

Homophobia, fueled by the anti-homosexual rhetoric of the Catholic church, is rampant in most Latin American countries. This conceptual paper postulates that, in the same way that ethnic culture is deeply entrenched in Latin American groups living in the U.S., transgression of social rules, as a gay-survival strategy, is an intrinsic part of Latin American gay men's psychological functioning. Many of these men, who experience moving to the U.S. as a personal Stonewall Rebellion, are subsequently reluctant to accept restrictions on their sexual expression. Although they are aware of the HIV risks presented by unsafe sex, they equate safer-sex guidelines to the moral and social taboos that they circumvented. In this context, HIV-negative gay men feel that they can get away with still one more instance of unprotected sex. This paper highlights the need for critical thinking about internalized homophobia and transgression survival mechanisms as prerequisites to self-empowerment and HIV-prevention behavior among men who have sex with men of Latin American ancestry. Individual and group psychotherapy and community level political activism may contribute to this end.

Perceptions of Access to HIV-Related Information, Care, and Services among Infected Minority Men

The findings from a qualitative investigation of HIV-infected African American and Puerto Rican gay and bisexual men's experiences obtaining HIV-related information; seeking HIV-related health care; as well as soliciting assistance from, and involvement with, HIV/AIDS service organizations are presented. Many men felt that their race or ethnicity-alone or together with their lower socioeconomic status-had been a factor in their experiences in seeking illness-related information, health care, advocacy, and social services. With respect to medical care, African American men held more critical and distrustful attitudes toward physicians than did Puerto Rican men. Both groups of men viewed the principal, high-profile, HIV-related advocacy and social service organizations as largely disinterested in non-White and non-middle-class clients. The men also viewed the minority-focused HIV/AIDS organizations as largely ineffectual.

Stress, coping, HIV status, psychosocial resources, and depressive mood in African American gay, bisexual, and heterosexual men.

The associations between stress, physical health, psychosocial resources, coping, and depressive mood were examined in a community sample of African American gay, bisexual, and heterosexual men (N = 139). Data were collected from physical exams and in-person interviews. In our theoretical framework, depressive mood scores were regressed first on stressors, next on psychosocial resources, and finally on coping strategy variables. Results revealed that psychosocial resources mediate the effects of stressors, including health symptoms, hassles, and life events, on depressive mood. There were no significant differences in depressive mood associated with HIV status or sexual orientation. Results are discussed in terms of community interventions needed to provide social support as a buffer between stress and psychological distress in African American men.

Optimal scaling of HIV-related sexual risk behaviors in ethnically diverse homosexually active men.

As HIV-related behavioral research moves increasingly in the direction of seeking to determine predictors of high-risk sexual behavior, more efficient methods of specifying patterns are needed. Two statistical techniques, homogeneity analysis and latent class analysis, useful in scaling binary multivariate data profiles are presented. Both were used to analyze reported sexual behavior patterns in two samples of homosexually active men, one sample of 343 primarily White gay men attending an HIV workshop and one sample of 837 African American gay men recruited nationally. Results support the existence of a single, nonlinear, latent dimension underlying male homosexual behaviors consistent with HIV-related risk taking. Both statistical methods provide an efficient means to optimally scale sexual behavior patterns, a critical outcome variable in HIV-related research.

Spirituality in Everyday Life: Experiences of Gay Men of Alcoholics Anonymous

Abstract Although gay American men are afflicted with alcoholism and other forms of chemical dependency at a much higher rate than their heterosexual brothers, many of them are experiencing fulfillment by living the spiritual way of life known as Alcoholics Anonymous. To learn how gay men of AA go about doing spirituality in everyday life, 50 gay American men were interviewed in depth. The findings of this study are presented here so that clinicians can teach their gay male clients how other gay men recovering from chemical dependency go about practicing spirituality. In everyday life, the men in this study practiced spirituality by maintaining sobriety, ridding themselves of internalized homophobia, communicating with their Higher Power (who was defined as God by the overwhelming majority of the study's participants), turning their lives and wills over to the care of God as they understood Him, performing good works (both corporal and spiritual works of mercy), meeting adult social roles, engaging in sel...

The inappropriateness of psycho-social models of risk behaviour for understanding HIV-related risk practices among Glasgow male prostitutes.

Much the most common models of HIV-related risk behaviour are those psychosocial models derived from studies of health behaviour and tested on large interview samples of American gay men. These models were not appropriate for understanding risk behaviour among 32 Glasgow male prostitutes. Whereas psycho-social models conceive of risk behaviour as volitional and individualistic, ethnographic data indicate that the male prostitutes' risk practices were constrained and emergent from the immediate circumstances of the sexual encounter. Unsafe sex was associated with client control. Safer sex was associated with countervailing prostitute strategies of influence. These data confirm the utility of self-empowerment approaches to health education.

Bibliotherapy and Gay American Men of Alcholics Anonymous

As part of a larger research project designed to learn what types of activities gay American men of Alcholics Anonymous include in the phrase working the program, it was learned that bibliotherapy (reading for self-help or persobaly growth) was seen as an improtant part of recovery. The purpose of this study was to learn what types of literature gay American men of A.A. use in their recovery program. Thirty gay maerican men of A.A. were interviewed in-depth in Illinois, Iwoa, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Texas. The main types of literature used by the men were: A.A. books and pamphlets; religiour and/or spiritual books; daily meditation guides; books about alcoholism, treatment, and A.A.; 12 step guides; gay studies books( including gay-specific alcoholism-related literature); alcoholic biographies and autobiographies; and self-help or pop psychology books. This article discusses the strengths and limitations of bibiltherapy as well as suggesting types of literature which gay men should consider adding to ...

Bibliotherapy and gay American men of alcoholics anonymous

Bibliotherapy and gay American men of alcoholics anonymous

Alcoholism and non-acceptance of gay self: the critical link.

As part of a larger research project designed to generate grounded theory on the nature of gay sobriety, this study was designed to explore the etiology of alcoholism among gay American men and how etiology is related to gay bars or non-acceptance of gay self or both. In-depth interviews were conducted in Seattle, Iowa City, Chicago, and Oklahoma City with 20 gay recovering alcoholic men, each of whom had at least one year of sobriety. It was found that: (a) Gay bars were totally unrelated to the etiology in any of the informants, yet most thought that this gay bar ethnotheory could explain why there was a high incidence of alcoholism in the gay community; (b) none of the men saw being gay as a positive thing before sobriety, yet many didn't realize their non-acceptance until after sobriety was chosen; (c) accepting being gay as a positive aspect of self occurred only after sobriety was chosen and lived; and (d) not accepting being gay as a positive thing may therefore explain the etiology and thus the high incidence of alcoholism among gay American men.

Alcoholics anonymous and gay American men.

Self-help groups can be powerful tools for self-change. Thus, counselors and other professionals are wise to consider referrals to such groups when possible. In this article, the nature of self-help groups is explored in general, and Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) in particular. A.A. was chosen because it is the "grandparent" of all 12-Step groups, it has proven effective over time, and because of the pandemic incidence of alcoholism among homosexual American men. Therefore, professionals should be well aware of this invaluable resource for the treatment of alcoholism. This article explores the homosexual alcoholic man in relation to A.A., as well as how professionals may be supportive of the gay A.A. member. Finally, some suggestions are provided about how rural homosexual alcoholic men might be better treated.

Sex, AIDS, and gay American men.

Sex, AIDS, and gay American men.