Sexual risk behaviours and correlates of condom use with casual sex partners among drug users in Jiangsu, China

Abstract

The study aimed to explore sexual risk behaviours and the correlates of condom use with casual sex partners among drug users in China. Data were collected from 901 eligible drug users (504 men and 397 women) from 2014 to 2015 in Jiangsu, China. Methamphetamine was the most used drug (91.8%) among the participants. The proportion reporting consistent condom use was 4.1 and 11.9% with steady and casual sex partners, respectively. Compared to women, men were more likely to have had their first sex at age ≤16 years (40.3 versus 25.6%), had both steady and casual sex partners (68.0 versus 28.9%), had one night stand partners (54.6 versus 17.4%), had sex under the influence of drugs often (29.8 versus 3.6%). Multiple logistic regressions indicated that inconsistent condom use with casual sex partners was associated with older age, having drug use friends as casual sex partners, while having always used condoms was associated with having never had sex under the influence of drugs, having sought casual sex less frequently, and using condoms at first sex. The findings highlight the need for future gender-specific efforts toward tailoring prevention and treatment programmes to reduce sexual risk behaviours among drug users in China.

Keywords:

• Sexual risk behaviours
• gender
• condom use
• drug users
• China

Acknowledgments

The National Natural Science Foundation of China had no role in the study design, collection, analysis or interpretation of the data, writing the article, or the decision to submit the article for publication. The authors want to thank the on-site research team for conducting the survey.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this study was provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China General Program Grant [#NSF71673146 and 71203098].