Safe-Sex Knowledge, Sexual Behavior, and Drug Use A thesis

More documents

Recommendations

Info

egular or serial girlfriends, though not necessarily. Passively closeted men less often replace a part of their orientation with a heterosexual feature of sexuality (such as a wife). These men are more apt to avoid discussions or situations that would risk exposure, and more likely to be vague or non-responsive in efforts to conceal identity. In this study, the target population is MSM’s (men who have sex with men) in Kern County, California. Therefore the intended population of study includes openly gay men, actively closeted men, and passively closeted men. Note that the defining characteristic of this population is based upon behavior, not identity. The relationship between behavior and identity is important and ties in a variety of other factors; this shall be pursued in another study using these collected data. It was important to make certain that the sample included men from all of these categories to effectively represent this population. Starting with an initial pool of 20 gay men through passive recruiting (advertising with contact information provided) at the Community Action Partnership of Kern, the RDS sampling was started. Each respondent was offered a reward (from among flashlights, movie tickets, etc.) for each additional qualified MSM who contacted us and completed a questionnaire. That respondent, too, was offered a reward for completion of his questionnaire. This double incentive process increases the likelihood of participation by those who would otherwise (a) not be contacted and (b) refuse to answer. Also, the referrer has an incentive to not only alert the others to the survey, but to follow up and make sure they participate. More robust rewards tend to be more effective, but given budget considerations, the rewards offered were targeted toward the economic status level and 8
interests of the target population. Each person referred was then offered the opportunity to refer others, up until the end of the data collection period. The study was advertised on the web and at local relevant events and establishments. Open referrals, those men who learned of the study without having a specific referral, were also permitted. The data were planned to be collected over the course of 30 days to ensure that there would be sufficient time for multiple level referrals, which have the effect of obtaining members of different parts of the population for the sample. However, the time period was extended an additional two weeks to collect data from a sizable number of promised referrals. Sampling error is a concern, particularly since this is not a random sample. Budget restrictions on rewards for respondents, as well as time restrictions on staff (including myself) to be available to provide and collect the self-administered questionnaires, did limit the sample size. While power analysis yielded a best sample size of just over 300 (.80; alpha = 0.05), the sample size was, in part, determined by the ratio of openly gay men continuing to be added to the sample. It was important to have sufficient numbers of actively and passively closeted men in the sample; however, there is no known proportion of existence in the population. These strata are used for group comparison and general representation. With quotas in mind, the option was available to screen out candidates as the questionnaires continued to be collected. Variables including demographic characteristics and identity management (open/closeted) were monitored daily. Since the demographic variables were generally in line with the Kern County general population, there was no need to institute a screen. Use of a detailed quota screen can also undermine the effectiveness of RDS sampling. The data collection, 9
Page 1 and 2: CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHR
Page 3 and 4: Table of Contents Signature page Ab
Page 5 and 6: Introduction Evidence suggests that
Page 7 and 8: sample was made up of mostly white
Page 9 and 10: Kropp, Silvera, & Lavack, 2004). Se
Page 11: The questionnaire ultimately went t
Page 15 and 16: Table 1. Sample Descriptive Statist
Page 17 and 18: Table 4 presents demographic statis
Page 19 and 20: een regularly drunk in the last six
Page 21 and 22: Table 7. Three Top Places to meet s
Page 23 and 24: Table 9. Sex Related Behaviors by G
Page 25 and 26: Table 10. Sex Related Behaviors by
Page 27 and 28: Table 12 provides information on se
Page 29 and 30: Table 14. Three Top Places to meet
Page 31 and 32: Table 16. Places respondents would
Page 39 and 40: Regression Analysis The variable, p
Page 41 and 42: Table 24. OLS Regression of Proport
Page 43 and 44: environment. Kern County, Californi
Page 45 and 46: Salganik, M. J., and Heckathorn, D.
Page 47 and 48: 8. What is your current annual inco
Page 49: 22. Please check up to 3 places whe

Safe-Sex Knowledge, Sexual Behavior, and Drug Use A thesis

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?