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Behavioral and Psychosocial Correlates of HIV Testing Among Male Clients of Female Sex Workers in Tijuana, Mexico

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Abstract

We use data collected from a sample of 400 male clients of female sex workers (FSW) to examine their HIV testing behavior. We present frequencies of HIV testing and used bivariate and multivariable analyses to assess its socio-demographic, behavioral, and psychosocial correlates. We found that the majority (55 %) of male clients of FSW in Tijuana, Mexico had never had an HIV test and the prevalence of HIV testing within the past year was low (9 %). In multivariable analyses, significant correlates of having ever tested for HIV were higher age, higher HIV knowledge score, lower sexual compulsiveness score, lower misogynistic attitudes score, having a condom break during sex with a FSW, and higher frequency of sex with a FSW while she was high. Our findings represent an important starting point for developing effective interventions to address the need to promote HIV testing among this population.

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Funding

This study was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA; R01DA029008). Preparation of this manuscript was supported by a NIDA Training Grant (T32 DA023356) and a NIDA Mentored Career Development Award (K01DA036447-01).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Global Public Health, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Paul J. Fleming & Eileen V. Pitpitan

  2. Department of Health Behavior & Health Education, University of Michigan, 1415 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Paul J. Fleming

  3. Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Thomas L. Patterson, Claudia V. Chavarin & Shirley J. Semple

  4. Centro Nacional para la Prevención y Control del VIH/SIDA (CENSIDA), Mexico City, Mexico

    Carlos Magis-Rodriguez

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  1. Paul J. Fleming
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  4. Shirley J. Semple
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Correspondence to Paul J. Fleming.

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All procedures performed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Fleming, P.J., Patterson, T.L., Chavarin, C.V. et al. Behavioral and Psychosocial Correlates of HIV Testing Among Male Clients of Female Sex Workers in Tijuana, Mexico. AIDS Behav 21, 2322–2331 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-016-1531-6

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