Abstract
We introduce a new venue-informed network degree measure, which we applied to respondent-driven sampling (RDS) estimators. Using data collected from 746 young MSM in 2014–2016 in Chicago, IL, and Houston, TX, we estimated the population seroprevalence of HIV and syphilis and risk/protective behaviors, using RDS estimates with self-reported network size as a standard degree measure as well as our proposed venue-informed degree measure. The results indicate that the venue-informed degree measure tended to be more efficient (smaller variance) and less biased than the other measure in both cities sampled. Venue attendance-adjusted network size may provide a more reliable and accurate degree measure for RDS estimates of the outcomes of interest.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 118-131 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Social Networks |
| Volume | 54 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 2018 |
Funding
This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health ( 1R01MH100021 , 1R01DA039934 , and 1R21GM113694 ). The co-first-author Ming Cao is supported by UTHealth Innovation for Cancer Prevention Research Training Program Pre-doctoral Fellowship (Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas grant # RP160015 ). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of NIH or the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. We also acknowledge Ju Yeong Kim, Jing Zhao, and the YMAP staff for data collection. Conflict of interest: None declared
Keywords
- HIV/STI
- Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)
- Respondent-driven sampling method (RDS)
- Sexually transmitted infections
- Two-mode affiliation networks
- Venue affiliation
- Young men who have sex with men (MSM)
- sexual and drug use behavior
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Anthropology
- Sociology and Political Science
- General Social Sciences
- General Psychology
