Psychosocial pathways to inconsistent condom use among male sex workers: personality, drug misuse and criminality

Abstract

Background: This research compared street male sex workers in Santo André, Brazil, that reported consistent condom use with those that revealed inconsistent condom use with their clients, concerning personality aspects, impulsiveness, alcohol and drug consumption, depressive symptoms, sociodemographic data and criminal involvement. Methods: Eighty-six male sex workers were evaluated in face-to-face interviews at their place of work. A ‘snowball’ sampling procedure was used to access this hard-to-reach population. Findings: Male sex workers with inconsistent condom use showed greater involvement with criminal activities, higher reward dependence level and more frequent self-report of being HIV-positive. Conclusions: Conceptualisation of male sex workers’ psychological characteristics may be required where HIV risk is not only attributed to sex work per se, but to other aspects such as personality-related factors and negative identity.