Substance abuse and HIV in China: the impact of residence and residential mobility

Xiushi Yang, Old Dominion University

Using data from a survey conducted in 2003 and employing multilevel modeling, the paper examines the impact of residential characteristics and mobility on substance abuse and HIV infection in China. Both individual characteristics and contextual factors are hypothesized to affect individual drug using behavior and HIV. The results suggest that being migrant is associated with significantly less risky drug-using behavior and lower odds of HIV infection. Drug use is also significantly associated with being male, less educated, single, and poor psychosocial wellbeing. At the contextual level, drug use is significantly and negatively associated with poverty. HIV infection is significantly correlated with prevalence of drug use in the community. For both drug use and HIV infection, there are significant cross-community variances in the random intercept component, suggesting that the likelihood of substance abuse and HIV infection vary significantly across geographic locations. HIV research and behavioral intervention need to pay particular attention to contextual characteristics.