Cigarette Smoking and Its Associations with Substance Use and HIV-Related Sexual Risks among Chinese Men Who Have Sex with Men

Wenjian Xu, Wanjie Tang, Jing Zhang, Xin Shi, Yong Zheng and Michelle R. Kaufman
Additional contact information
Wenjian Xu: Department of Sociology & Psychology, School of Public Administration, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China
Wanjie Tang: Center for Educational and Health Psychology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China
Jing Zhang: Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
Xin Shi: Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
Yong Zheng: Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
Michelle R. Kaufman: Department of Health, Behavior & Society, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 5, 1-14

Abstract: China has the largest population of male smokers globally. Men who have sex with men (MSM) are at greater risk of cigarette smoking compared to the general population. Limited data are available regarding cigarette smoking and its associations with other health issues among Chinese MSM. Eligible MSM (n = 1100) were recruited from mainland China using an online national cross-sectional survey conducted in 2014–2015. Socio-demographic characteristics, smoking behavior, substance use, homosexual stigma and outness, HIV-related risk behavior, and HIV status were obtained. Logistic regression analyses were performed to evaluate predictors of current cigarette smoking frequency and the co-occurrence of smoking and drug use. Nearly 41% (n = 446) of participants had ever smoked cigarettes; 25% (n = 278) were current frequent smokers; and 13% (n = 138) were current infrequent smokers. Factors associated with a history of smoking included age, employment status, and monthly salary. Risk factors associated with current frequent smoking included self-identification as gay, having female sexual partners, binge drinking, drug use, higher levels of homosexual stigma, and being partially or fully “out” as gay. Adjusted multinomial analysis showed that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) related risks, including risky sexual behaviors, lack of condom use, and a reported history of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), were associated with co-occurrence of current smoking and drug use. Cigarette smoking rates remain high among MSM in China. Cigarette smoking is associated with binge drinking, drug use, and HIV-related risks in this community. There is a clear opportunity for smoking cessation interventions to be linked with HIV and substance use prevention interventions, thereby addressing multiple health issues simultaneously for the MSM community in China.

Keywords: cigarette smoking; men who have sex with men; outness; homosexual stigma; substance use; HIV risk (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/5/1653/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/5/1653/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:5:p:1653-:d:328526

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().