relation: http://d-scholarship-dev.library.pitt.edu/36084/
title: Assessing relational cognitions among young gay and bisexual men on health outcomes of HIV and mental health
creator: Sang, Jordan
description: Young gay and bisexual men (YGBM) face multiple health disparities compared to heterosexual youth, including HIV risk and poor mental health outcomes. Relational cognitions (relational beliefs and expectations) may provide nuanced understanding of these disparities, but have not been fully explored among YGBM. In our first analysis, we identified six subscales on relational expectations (restrictions, masculine and gender norms, negative breakups, cheating, optimism, and immediacy) and two subscales on relational beliefs (sex beliefs and equality). In our second analysis, we tested these subscales on outcomes of receptive and insertive condomless anal sex (R-CAS and I-CAS). We found that YGBM with greater expectations of negative breakups were negatively associated with I-CAS (AOR=0.91; 95% CI: 0.85, 0.97) and R-CAS (AOR=0.92; 95% CI: 0.87, 0.97). YGBM with greater expectations of optimism were negatively associated with R-CAS (AOR=0.93; 95% CI: 0.88, 0.97), and positively associated with I-CAS (AOR=1.22; 95% CI: 1.15, 1.30). YGBM with greater expectations of cheating were positively associated with R-CAS (AOR=1.20; 95% CI: 1.14, 1.26) and immediacy was negatively associated with R-CAS (AOR=0.92; 95% CI: 0.88, 0.97). Among relational beliefs, YGBM with greater endorsement of sex beliefs had a negative association with R-CAS (AOR=0.81; 95% CI: 0.74, 0.89), and beliefs about equality (AOR=0.74; 95% CI: 0.67, 0.82) were negatively associated with R-CAS. In our third analysis, we utilized the developed subscales from paper 1 to test for associations to outcomes of anxiety and depression. We found that YGBM with greater relational restrictions (β= -.06) had a negative association with depression, while expectations of negative break ups (β= .34) and optimism (β= .05) were positively associated with higher depressive scores. Among relational beliefs, beliefs about equality (β= .06) were positively associated with higher depressive scores. For anxiety, expectations of restrictions (β= -.17) were negatively associated with higher anxiety scores. Alternatively, we found the constructs of negative break ups (β= .31), and immediacy (β= .06) positively associated with higher anxiety scores. The public health significance of these analyses illustrates the importance of relational cognitions on health and well-being among YGBM. We support future interventions that focus on relational cognitions to reduce health disparities.
date: 2019-06-27
type: University of Pittsburgh ETD
type: PeerReviewed
format: application/pdf
language: en
identifier: http://d-scholarship-dev.library.pitt.edu/36084/1/Sang_Jordan_Dissertation_4_2019.pdf
identifier:   Sang, Jordan  (2019) Assessing relational cognitions among young gay and bisexual men on health outcomes of HIV and mental health.  Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.    (Unpublished)