Steinhardt’s Halkitis Wins $2.9 Million NIH Grant

       Hoping to better understand the habits of young gay men and the specific risk factors for HIV infection, researchers at the Center for Health, Identity, Behavior, and Prevention Studies (CHIBPS) are embarking on a three-year longitudinal study of the behavioral choices of young men who have sex with men. The $2.9 million study is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health. The research grant will be administered through NYU’s Institute of Human Development and Social Change.
       According to Perry Halkitis, director of CHIBPS and professor of applied psychology and public health at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, emergent adulthood “is a period of time when young gay men are highly vulnerable not only to HIV infection but also to hepatitis B and C, syphilis, gonorrhea, and drug use.” He adds, “Young gay men may be more at risk in part due to the stigma and discrimination that they face.”
       The study, called P18 (Project 18, both because of the age cohort and because this is the 18th project at CHIBPS), will examine the synergy that exists among sexual risk-taking, mental health, and drug use in a cohort of 675 18-year-old men who have sex with men.
       “The research is built on the theory of syndemics, which suggests that risk-taking, drug use, and mental health burdens are socially produced ills that create vulnerability to disease,” Halkitis says.
       —Tim Farrell