Predicting salivary cortisol and sexual behavior stigma among MSM in the American Men’s Internet Survey 2019

Physiological stress levels in response to sexual behavior stigma among men who have sex with men (MSM) in the United States (US) are understudied. The current study aims to explore the relationship between sexual behavior stigma and salivary cortisol both overall and stratified by race/ethnicity. If such an association exists, it may suggest that sexual behavior stigma can be physiologically measured or indicated by the presence of heightened salivary cortisol. A subsample of 667 MSM participants from the 2019 American Men’s Internet Survey (AMIS; N = 10,129) submitted morning (AM) and evening (PM) saliva cortisol samples using at-home mail-in collection kits. Average daily cortisol and daily cortisol change were calculated; simple linear regressions estimated associations between cortisol measures and sexual behavior stigma characterized in four different ways (ever and recent experience of individual stigma items; average ever and recent experience of three stigma scales: stigma from family and friends, anticipated healthcare stigma, general social stigma). Participants reported a mean age of 36.0 years ( SD = 14.9), with most being non-Hispanic white ( n = 480, 72.0%), Hispanic ( n = 164, 12.3%), or Black/African American ( n = 146, 10.9%), and identified as homosexual/gay ( n = 562, 84.3%). Reporting ever experiencing healthcare providers gossiping was significantly associated with higher PM cortisol ( β = 0.12, p = 0.001) and higher average daily cortisol ( β = 0.11, p = 0.004), while reporting ever experiencing police refusing to protect was associated with higher AM cortisol ( β = 0.08, p = 0.03) and higher average daily cortisol ( β = 0.09, p = 0.02). Recent experiences of stigma were not significant predictors of any measure of cortisol. Measures of salivary cortisol may be used to characterize sexual behavior stigma among MSM populations, however more insight is needed to determine its exact relationship and strength.