Abstract C89: Examining HPV awareness, sexual behavior, and intent to receive the HPV vaccine among racial/ethnic males 18-27
Authors: Cooper Dexter L. , Hernandez Natalie D. , Zellner-Lawrence Tiffany 
Published: February 2019

Background: HPV plays a significant role in cancers and diseases that impact males directly including penile, oral, and anal malignancies, but awareness and positive vaccine intention in males remain problematic. HPV research largely focuses on cervical cancer prevention, ultimately feminizing HPV and erroneously portraying HPV as an infection that does not affect men. Incidence rates of oropharyngeal and anal cancers associated with HPV are increasing, and these cancers disproportionately affect men. Additionally, racial/ethnic minority men are disproportionately affected by HPV-related diseases and cancers. Black and Hispanic men are diagnosed with more HPV-related cancers and HPV-related cancers at later stages compared to other racial/ethnic groups. To date, very few studies have focused on HPV among racial/ethnic minority men and sexual. The purpose of this study is to examine 1) the awareness of men about HPV and their sexual behaviors and 2) the association of their intent to receive the HPV vaccination and sexual behaviors among racial/ethnic men.

Methods: Racial/ethnic minority men age 18 to 27 (n=190) attending a large public university in the southeast US completed a 20-minute web-based survey in the fall of 2011. Survey items were adapted from previous research of psychosocial HPV studies among men and women, and were based on constructs from the Health Belief Model and Social Cognitive Theory. This analysis examined self-reported data on participants' sociodemographics, sexual behavior, HPV knowledge, vaccine status, and intent to receive HPV vaccination. Univariate analyses examined the sample distribution; Bivariate analyses were conducted to examine racial/ethnic differences sexual behavior and intent to receive the HPV vaccination, and binomial logistic regression analysis examined associations between intent to receive HPV vaccination and sexual behaviors.

Results: The mean age of the sample was 21.31 (SD=2.579) years. The men identified themselves as Hispanic or Latino/a (49.5%), African-American /Black (17.9%), Asian (13.7%), Other (12.1%), and White (6.8%). The majority of the sample was insured (79.5%), unmarried/single (83.7%), heterosexual (91.1%), and completed 2 years of college or less (45.3%). Frequency distributions indicated that 73.2% did not consider themselves to be virgins and 49.5% of the sample was currently sexually active. In addition, 79.5% of the sample had previous knowledge about HPV, 81.6% of the sample had not received a dose of the HPV vaccine, and 77.1% did not plan to receive the HPV vaccine. Bivariate analyses showed that Hispanic and Black men were less likely to identify as virgins (p=0.03), more likely to have had vaginal (p=0.01) and oral (p=0.045) sex, and more likely to have vaginal sex at an earlier mean age compared to Asian, White, and Other men. Men who reported having had vaginal sex (28.6%; p=0.01), not being virgins (28.1%; p=0.008), and who were currently sexually active (31.8%; p=0.06) were more likely to have intentions of getting the HPV vaccination. Binomial logistic regression analysis showed that men who thought the HPV vaccine was of moderate importance were more likely than men who thought the HPV vaccine was of low and high importance to intend to receive the HPV vaccine (p=0.02).

Conclusion: Although this mostly racial/ethnic minority sample of men were knowledgeable about the HPV vaccine and reported being sexually active, they were still less likely to intend to receive the vaccine. Providing information about HPV at early ages, particularly for Black and Hispanic men, and that it is transmitted through the different sexual behaviors may increase and emphasize the importance of HPV vaccination. Determining factors associated with HPV vaccine intentions among those at risk for HPV is important in increasing uptake of the vaccine and decreasing the burden of HPV-related diseases.

Citation Format: Dexter L. Cooper, Natalie D. Hernandez, Tiffany Zellner-Lawrence. Examining HPV awareness, sexual behavior, and intent to receive the HPV vaccine among racial/ethnic males 18-27 [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Tenth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2017 Sep 25-28; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2018;27(7 Suppl):Abstract nr C89.