Life satisfaction and its associated factors among money boys in China

Money Boy (MB) is a unique term used in China referring to a specialized population of men who sell sex to other men. Life satisfaction can influence one's health-related behaviors. The aim of our study was to find out the situation of MBs' life satisfaction and its associated factors.

A cross-sectional study among MBs was conducted between July and December 2013 in Hunan province, China.

Respondent-driven sampling method was used for recruitment, with the initial seven 'seeds' found from a gay dating website, and 234 participants were enrolled into the study. They were asked to complete a questionnaire about their demographic characteristics, work experience as MB, family environment, health-related behaviors, status of self-esteem, self-stigma, and perceived life satisfaction. Descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression analysis were applied.

There were 205 valid questionnaires collected. The results showed that MBs' life satisfaction score was 17.9 ± 6.3. The multiple linear regression model identified five factors correlated with MBs' life satisfaction. Three factors were found to be positively correlated with life satisfaction, consistent condom use with clients (β = 3.093, P = 0.010), interpersonal relationship (β = 1.027, P = 0.017), and self-esteem (β = 0.253, P = 0.005). And two factors were found to be negatively correlated with life satisfaction, seeking for clients through mommy's arrangement (β = -2.091, P = 0.019) and had ever gotten at least one kind of sexually transmitted disease (STDs) (β = -1.971, P = 0.034).

The present study contributed to a better understanding of MBs' life satisfaction and behavioral and other psychosocial features. It is suggested that comprehensive interventions involving behavioral and psychosocial health promotion approaches are needed for this population. Those programs will be more acceptable among this group and tend to be sustainable.