Depression Ratings, Reported Sexual Risk Behaviors, and Methamphetamine Use: Latent Growth Curve Models of Positive Change Among Gay and Bisexual Men in an Outpatient Treatment Program

Although the cessation of substance use is the principal concern of drug treatment programs, many individuals in treatment experience co-occurring problems such as mood disruptions and sexual risk behaviors that may complicate their recovery process. This study assessed relationships among dynamic changes tracked over time in methamphetamine use, depression symptoms, and sexual risk behaviors (unprotected anal intercourse) in a sample of 145 methamphetamine-dependent gay and bisexual males enrolled in a 16-week outpatient drug treatment research program. Participants were randomly assigned into 1 of 4 conditions: contingency management (CM), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT; the control condition), combined CM and CBT, and a tailored gay-specific version of the CBT condition. Using latent growth curve models, the authors assessed the relationship of means (intercepts) and the slopes of the 3 measures of interest over time to test whether changes in methamphetamine use predicted declining rates of depression and risky sexual behavior in tandem. Participants with the greatest downward trajectory in methamphetamine use (urine verified) reported the greatest and quickest decreases in reported depressive symptoms and sexual risk behaviors. The control group reported the most methamphetamine use over the 16 weeks; the tailored gay-specific group reported a more rapidly decreasing slope in methamphetamine use than the other participants. Findings indicate that lowering methamphetamine use itself has a concurrent and synergistic effect on depressive symptoms and risky sexual behavior patterns. This suggests that some users who respond well to treatment may show improvement in these co-occurring problems without a need for more intensive targeted interventions.