The effects of sexual sensation seeking and alcohol use on risky sexual behavior among men who have sex with men.

Men who have sex with men (MSM) remain most at risk for developing HIV infection. The best prevention in this population is to identify risk factors associated with unprotected sex. Recent research suggests that sexual sensation seeking (SSS) and level of average drinking moderates the relationship between drinking alcohol in the context of sex and risky sexual behavior in a young MSM population (ages 16-20 years). Current study is an exploratory analysis using multilevel modeling to examine if these results are consistent across a MSM population with a wider range of ages who are also heavy drinkers. Participants (n = 181) included MSM (ages 18-75 years) from a longitudinal clinical research trial. Results indicate that MSM with higher SSS were more likely to have unprotected anal sex if they drank alcohol 3 h prior to sex than those who did not, (OR = 1.07; 95 % CI 1.03-1.12). There was no significant interaction effect for average levels of drinking.

An Item Response Theory (IRT) analysis of the Short Inventory of Problems-Alcohol and Drugs (SIP-AD) among non-treatment seeking men-who-have-sex-with-men: evidence for a shortened 10-item SIP-AD.

The Short Inventory of Problems-Alcohol and Drugs (SIP-AD) is a 15-item measure that assesses concurrently negative consequences associated with alcohol and illicit drug use. Current psychometric evaluation has been limited to classical test theory (CTT) statistics, and it has not been validated among non-treatment seeking men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM). Methods from Item Response Theory (IRT) can improve upon CTT by providing an in-depth analysis of how each item performs across the underlying latent trait that it is purported to measure. The present study examined the psychometric properties of the SIP-AD using methods from both IRT and CTT among a non-treatment seeking MSM sample (N=469). Participants were recruited from the New York City area and were asked to participate in a series of studies examining club drug use. Results indicated that five items on the SIP-AD demonstrated poor item misfit or significant differential item functioning (DIF) across race/ethnicity and HIV status. These five items were dropped and two-parameter IRT analyses were conducted on the remaining 10 items, which indicated a restricted range of item location parameters (-.15 to -.99) plotted at the lower end of the latent negative consequences severity continuum, and reasonably high discrimination parameters (1.30 to 2.22). Additional CTT statistics were compared between the original 15-item SIP-AD and the refined 10-item SIP-AD and suggest that the differences were negligible with the refined 10-item SIP-AD indicating a high degree of reliability and validity. Findings suggest the SIP-AD can be shortened to 10 items and appears to be a non-biased reliable and valid measure among non-treatment seeking MSM.