Demographic and HIV Status Diversities as Mechanisms of Social Integration and Segregation Among Black Sexual and Gender Minorities Enrolled in a Community-Based Social Network Intervention.

ABSTRACT

Drawing on a social integration and intersectionality framework, this study advances a dynamic network understanding of the mechanisms that enable differential patterns of within-group social integration and segregation among Black sexual and gender minorities (BSGM). Specifically, in a cohort of BSGM (18-35 years of age, n = 340) participating in a community-based network intervention for HIV prevention, we examine how sexual, gender, age, and HIV status diversities contribute to friendship formation and maintenance patterns over the 12-month study enrollment period. We found attenuated social integration (or social activity) among non-gay-identified and older BSGM and evidence of social segregation (or homophily) on the basis sexual identity and age similarities. Accounting for the moderating effects of the intervention revealed that the attenuated integration of non-gay-identified and older BSGM were stronger for participants who received the peer leadership training and integration challenges were also found for transgender BSGM who received the peer leadership training. Meanwhile, BSGM living with HIV who received the peer leadership training were significantly more integrated than their counterparts in the control arm. These findings help us understand the complicated social fabric among BSGM and the dynamics that interventions for this community may have to contend with or alter.