The health and well-being of men who have sex with men (MSM) in Britain: Evidence from the third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3)

Mercer, Catherine H.; Prah, Philip; Field, Nigel; Tanton, Clare; Macdowall, Wendy; Clifton, Soazig; Hughes, Gwenda; Nardone, Anthony; Wellings, Kaye; Johnson, Anne M.; Sonnenberg, Pam

doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3149-z

Table 3 Sociodemographic profile of men who have sex exclusively with women (MSEW), all men who have sex with men (MSM), and MSM who identified as gay in Natsal-3

From: The health and well-being of men who have sex with men (MSM) in Britain: Evidence from the third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3)

	MSEW	All MSM		MSM who identified as gay^b
Denominators ^a :	5069, 6257	190, 191		107, 99
	% [95 % CI]	% [95 % CI]	p-value^*	% [95 % CI]	p-value^**
Age group
16–34	35.0 [33.6–36.5]	43.6 [35.9–51.6]	0.106	51.3 [40.2–62.3]	<0.001
35–54	41.0 [39.3–42.8]	38.3 [30.3–47.0]		41.2 [30.2–53.1]
55–74	23.9 [22.5–25.4]	18.1 [12.1–26.2]		7.5 [3.7–14.8]
Median (IQR)	41 (30–54)	40 (26–51)		34 (26–46)
	Age-standardised estimates:
Relationship status
Married/civil partnership	54.4 [53.1–55.7]	25.6 [18.2–34.8]	<0.001	14.9 [8.0–26.0]	<0.001
Living with partner	16.0 [14.9–17.1]	20.6 [14.3–28.8]		21.8 [12.8–34.7]
In a ‘steady’ relationship but not living together	11.8 [11.0–12.7]	14.5 [9.9–20.7]		15.8 [9.5–25.0]
Not in a ‘steady’ relationship	17.8 [16.9–18.8]	39.3 [31.5–47.6]		47.6 [35.5–59.9]
Ethnicity - white	88.4 [87.2–89.5]	96.8 [91.6–98.8]	0.007	98.9 [92.9–99.8]	0.013
Religion/religious beliefs –fairly/very important	33.8 [32.3–35.4]	23.4 [16.9–31.4]	0.007	27.3 [17.6–39.9]	0.056
Academic qualifications^c
No academic qualifications	17.9 [16.7–19.2]	10.2 [6.0–16.9]	0.017	9.3 [4.2–19.5]	0.010
Academic qualifications typically gained at age 16	34.3 [32.8–35.8]	33.8 [26.2–42.2]		31.7 [21.2–44.5]
Studying for/attained further academic qualifications	47.8 [46.1–49.5]	56.0 [47–64.6]		58.9 [45.7–71.0]
National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification^d
Managerial & professional occupations	38.1 [36.4–39.7]	43.1 [34.6–52]	0.086	43.8 [31.9–56.5]	0.094
Intermediate occupations	17.1 [15.8–18.4]	20.0 [13.7–28.3]		26.5 [16.4–39.8]
Semi-routine/routine occupations	32.6 [31.1–34.2]	27.5 [20.1–36.4]		18.9 [11.9–28.8]
Never worked and long-term unemployed	5.0 [4.4–5.7]	1.2 [0.4–3.9]		3.7 [0.9–13.7]
Full-time students	7.2 [6.5–8]	8.2 [54–12.3]		7.1 [3.8–12.8]
Lives in an urban area^e	76.6 [74.8–78.3]	81.5 [72.9–87.9]	0.118	89.1 [79.9–94.4]	0.005
Quintile of Index of Multiple Deprivation^f
1 (least deprived)	21.2 [19.7–22.8]	18.9 [12.7–27.2]	0.530	13.1 [7.5–22.0]	0.116
2	21.6 [20.1–23.2]	16.6 [11.0–24.3]		17.2 [9.2–29.8]
3	19.4 [17.9–20.9]	21.0 [15.0–28.7]		16.9 [10.1–26.8]
4	19.6 [18.1–21.2]	21.2 [15.1–29.0]		26.2 [17.3–37.6]
5 (most deprived)	18.2 [16.8–19.6]	22.2 [16.2–29.6]		26.6 [18.6–36.6]

^*p-value for comparing all MSM to MSEW
^**p-value for comparing MSM who identified as gay in Natsal-3 to MSEW. Note that MSM who identify as gay are a subset of all MSM
^aUnweighted, weighted denominators defined as participants who reported at least one sexual partner in the 5 years prior to interview
^bMSM who identified as gay in Natsal-3 are a subset of all MSM
^cParticipants aged ≥17 years
^dNational Statistics Socio-Economic Classification is a measure of individual socio-economic status [17]
^eDefined as areas with a population of at least 10,000 people
^fIndex of Multiple Deprivation is an area-level measure of deprivation [18]

Back to article page

ISSN: 1471-2458

Contact us

Submission enquiries: bmcpublichealth@biomedcentral.com
General enquiries: ORSupport@springernature.com

BMC Public Health

Contact us