Objective To learn about the characteristics of social networks and sexual behaviors of men who have sex with men (MSM), and to provide references for high risk sexual behavior intervention.
Methods Face-to-face questionnaire in terviews were conducted, and descriptive statistics and chi-squared test were utilized for statistical analysis.
Results A total of 151 MSM were interviewed and 128 social networks were identified. The network size varied from 2 to 6, and the proportion of network size above 4 was 32.93%. The network density varied from 0.4 to 1.00, and the median was 1.00. Among the 297 networks' members, 85.86% were male, 73.73% were aged ≤30 years, and 49.93% were college graduates or above. There was no significant difference in age and educational degree between the participants and the network members. As to the relationship with network members, 61.62% were friends or classmates, 15.15% were workmates, 12.12% were sexual partners, 11.11% were relatives, 56.23% were MSM, and 24.58% had sex with network members, among whom 76.71% had sexual behaviors in the past 6 months. The age at first sex with men varied from 13 to 40 years old (mean& #177;SD, 22.73& #177;5.14). In the past 6 months, the number of male sexual partners varied from 1 to 101, with the median of 2, and 60.93% of the interviewees had more than 2 male sexual partners. The percentages of unprotected sexual behaviors with fixed, frequent, occasional, and commercial male partners and female partners were 51.65%, 46.05%, 36.84%, 75.00%, and 53.33% respectively.
Conclusion Multiple sexual partners and unprotected sexual behaviors are common among MSM. Social networks play an important role in dissemination of HIV risk behaviors and should be considered to develop targeted HIV intervention programs.
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