A social behavioral model of STD acquisition among men.

In this paper we use a social and behavioral model to examine an adult males risk of acquiring a sexually transmitted disease. The model posits that the acquisition of an STD is a function of the probability of exposure to infection the probability of infection if exposed and the probability of disease if infected. Sexual and health care behaviors are risk factors that operate through these mechanisms to affect the likelihood of STD acquisition. Individual level social and demographic characteristics are risk markers that in turn influence both sexual and health care behaviors. Using data from the 1991 National Survey of Men an examination of these linkages yields a number of important insights and conclusions regarding the patterns of STD acquisition that place some men in the U.S. at higher risk of infection than others. (authors)