Objectives: Ethnographic and epidemiological research have documented a link between the disproportionate number of new AIDS cases found in rural Mexican communities and the sexual behavior of male temporary labor migrants in the US. This paper presents results from a study of cultural and social influences, including ideas about the meaning of marriage and marital sexuality, on the risk of infidelity among Mexican men in Atlanta. Methods: Phase I data collection involved semi-structured interviews (n=36) on gender, sexuality, and HIV with migrants participating in a community soccer league. In Phase II, structured survey interviews were conducted with 200 men to collect demographic information, migration histories, patterns of social support, attitudes about sexuality and marriage, and extramarital sexual behavior. Results: Preliminary findings from Phase I highlight the importance of loneliness and ideas about gender in shaping migrant sexual behavior. Based on these findings, multiple logistic regression will be used to explore the association of structural factors (SES in Mexico, economic reasons for migration), social support, and cultural ideas about sexuality and marriage with men's sexual risk behaviors, operationalized as: 1) ever having had sex while in the United States and 2) the number of sexual partners. Conclusions: This paper demonstrates how culturally variable ideas about marriage and sexuality shape men's extramarital sexual behavior, with important implications for the heterosexual transmission of HIV. This paper also addresses the broader question of the relative weight of cultural and social factors in shaping the reproductive health of migrants and their wives.
Learning Objectives: After listening to this paper, participants should be able to: * discuss the relationship between migration and HIV in Mexico * understand the relative influence of structural, social and cultural factors on infidelity among Mexican migrants in Atlanta * see the importance of studying the public health implications of men's extramarital sexual behavior, and the connections between infidelity and culturally variable notions about marriage, sexuality and men's roles in relationships.
Keywords: HIV Risk Behavior, Sexuality
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: none
Disclosure not received
Relationship: Not Received.