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The Moderating Role of Social Support on the Relationship Between Anxiety, Stigma, and Intention to Use Illicit Drugs Among HIV-Positive Men Who Have Sex with Men

  • Phoenix K. H. Mo
  • Xi Chen
  • Eliz H. K. Lam
  • Jinghua Li
  • Christopher W. Kahler
  • Joseph T. F. LauEmail author
Original Paper
First Online:

Abstracts

The present study examined the association between anxiety, stigma, social support and intention to use illicit drugs, and the moderating role of social support on the association between anxiety/stigma and intention to use illicit drugs among 450 Chinese HIV-positive MSM. Findings show that controlling for significant background variables, self-stigma and anxiety were positively associated with intention to use illicit drugs, while social support was negatively associated with intention to use illicit drugs. A significant moderation effect of social support was also observed, that the negative association between self-stigma/anxiety and intention to use illicit drugs was only significant among participants with lower levels of social support. Findings highlight the importance of reducing self-stigma and anxiety, and promoting social support in drug use prevention for HIV-positive MSM.

Keywords

Social support Intention to use illicit drugs Anxiety Stigma Men who have sex with men 
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Notes

Acknowledgement

We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to Mr. Xiaodong Wang, director of the local NGO, for his support in data collection and coordination.

Funding

The study was funded by the Providence/Boston Center for AIDS Research International Developmental Grant [P30AI042853] and the National Natural Science Foundation of China Young Scientists’ Grant [81302479].

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Centre for Health Behaviours Research, School of Public Health and Primary CareThe Chinese University of Hong KongShatinHong Kong
  2. 2.The Chinese University of Hong Kong Shenzhen Research InstituteShenzhenChina
  3. 3.Department of PsychologyThe Chinese University of Hong KongShatinHong Kong
  4. 4.Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Public HealthSun Yat-sen UniversityGuangzhouChina
  5. 5.Sun Yat-sen Global Health InstituteSun Yat-sen UniversityGuangzhouChina
  6. 6.Department of Behavioral and Social SciencesBrown University School of Public HealthProvidenceUSA

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