A Reporter at Large - Higher Risk
QUOTE
by MICHAEL SPECTER
Crystal meth, the Internet, and dangerous choices about AIDS.
Issue of 2005-05-23
Posted 2005-05-16
....
“The epidemic of crystal methamphetamine is real and it’s serious,” Stall continued. “But I suggest that everyone just stand back and ask, How is it that aids and substance abuse have been twin epidemics that have interacted and made each other worse? That question has bothered me from the beginning.” For his research, Stall has drawn on data collected from the Urban Men’s Health Study, one of the largest surveys taken of a gay population. He looked at mental-health issues such as depression, partner violence, and substance abuse. He also examined the extent to which the men in this study of nearly three thousand people reported having been sexually abused as children. “I was surprised to see the extent to which one epidemic was associated with the other,” he said. “Depression, partner violence, substance abuse.” He controlled the sample for race, class, level of education, and H.I.V. status. Then he and his colleagues cross-referenced the data from all of the categories and found that each category was associated with all the others. That means that there are at least four significant epidemics going on in gay communities in the United States, and that they are interacting and making one another worse. Stall refers to this phenomenon as “syndemics”—a syndrome of interacting epidemics. The higher the number of the epidemics that any particular man experienced, the more likely he was to have risky sex, and to test positive for H.I.V.
Crystal meth, the Internet, and dangerous choices about AIDS.
Issue of 2005-05-23
Posted 2005-05-16
....
“The epidemic of crystal methamphetamine is real and it’s serious,” Stall continued. “But I suggest that everyone just stand back and ask, How is it that aids and substance abuse have been twin epidemics that have interacted and made each other worse? That question has bothered me from the beginning.” For his research, Stall has drawn on data collected from the Urban Men’s Health Study, one of the largest surveys taken of a gay population. He looked at mental-health issues such as depression, partner violence, and substance abuse. He also examined the extent to which the men in this study of nearly three thousand people reported having been sexually abused as children. “I was surprised to see the extent to which one epidemic was associated with the other,” he said. “Depression, partner violence, substance abuse.” He controlled the sample for race, class, level of education, and H.I.V. status. Then he and his colleagues cross-referenced the data from all of the categories and found that each category was associated with all the others. That means that there are at least four significant epidemics going on in gay communities in the United States, and that they are interacting and making one another worse. Stall refers to this phenomenon as “syndemics”—a syndrome of interacting epidemics. The higher the number of the epidemics that any particular man experienced, the more likely he was to have risky sex, and to test positive for H.I.V.
I have been told the "booty effect" is substantial 
