Young men who have sex with men (YMSM) use alcohol and other
drugs at rates higher than their heterosexual peers. While social networks of
YMSM have been acknowledged as an important contextual influence on their
health behavior, studies have largely focused on social and sexual networks
rather than substance use networks, despite the potential importance of
substance use alters in shaping substance use behavior.
Using data collected from a diverse sample of YMSM (n=156),
two multilevel models examined the associations between network (e.g., degree
and transitivity), dyadic (e.g., strength of relationship), and individual
characteristics and two alter level dependent variables: recent drug use
(versus no recent drug use) and frequency of substance use.
Results indicated that transitivity was associated with both
recent drug use (OR=1.21, p=0.012) and more frequent substance use (b=0.08,
p=0.002). Degree was not significantly associated with either variable.
Furthermore, participants were also less likely to have recently used drugs
(OR=0.93, p<0.001) and tended to use substances less frequently (b=-0.01,
p=0.028) with older alters.
Despite substantial interest in network influences on
health, much remains unknown about the impact of network structures on
substance use. The current findings suggest that structural characteristics of
substance use networks may provide important information regarding the drug and
alcohol use behavior of YMSM even when controlling for dyadic and individual
characteristics.
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By:
- 1Department of Medical Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, 625N Michigan Ave, Suite 2700, Chicago, IL 60611, United States. Electronic address: Patrick.janulis@northwestern.edu.
- 2Department of Medical Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, 625N Michigan Ave, Suite 2700, Chicago, IL 60611, United States.
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