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HIV risk in gay male couples is
reduced when they become fathers, according to San Francisco State University
(SFSU) researchers. Their study documented the lifestyle changes of
transitioning to parenthood for 48 gay male couples in the Bay Area.
“Given that the HIV risk is so
prevalent in the gay community, we wanted to know if parenthood would have an
impact on HIV risk,” said study co-author Colleen Hoff, SFSU sexuality studies
professor and director of the Center for Research on Gender and Sexuality.
Today one in five gay male couples is raising children, Hoff said.
“A lot of them reported that with
children at home they’re exhausted so the frequency of sex decreases, which
could mean less risk for HIV,” Hoff said. “There was no resentment or
frustration in most couples. Most of them really appreciated non-sexual
expressions of intimacy: watching their kids walk down the street hand-in-hand
with their partner or just appreciating the time hugging and sleeping
together.”
Parenthood did not affect sexual
agreements the couples had previously reached - open and monogamous
relationships alike continued as before. “Roughly half the couples were in open
relationships and reported there’s less time and desire to act on that,” Hoff
said. Couples also reported spending less time with gay friends, and more time
with heterosexual parents.
Many of the changes documented were
not unique to gay couples but typical for all couples with children, the study
emphasized.
[PNU editor’s note: The full study,
“The Impact of Parenting on Gay Male Couples’ Relationships, Sexuality, and HIV
Risk,” was published in Journal of Couple and Family Psychology
(2012;1(2):106-119).]
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
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