Employment and contextual impact of safe and unsafe sexual practices for STI and HIV: the situation in China

China's dual employment system plays a crucial role in sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV-related safe and unsafe sexual practices among y oung Chinese people. Social and psychological determinants of safe and unsa fe sexual practices for HIV infection among young people in Sichuan, China were examined. Our findings indicate that changes in China's social structu re and employment system impact upon the social contextual involvement and sociosexual practice of young Chinese people. The findings in the study sug gest that the employment-related contextual involvement was a major predict or in the relationships between demography, information, and psychological risk-taking factors on one hand and the people's safe and unsafe sexual pra ctices on the other. Self-employed people (officially called 'getihu') were more likely than the state-employed people to engage in unprotected sex wi th casual sexual partners. As China undergoes social restructuring and many state-employed people are laid off, the risk may also extend into the broa der non-self-employed population as more state-employed people become invol ved not only in the self-employed getihu's socioeconomic activities but als o in their unconventional socio-sexual practices. Collective vulnerability to STI and HIV, due to the current socio-sexual practices of the getihu you ng people, has created a new frontier for STI and HIV prevention in today's China, as well as demonstrating the importance of collective action with S TI and AIDS prevention strategies within relevant social and sub-cultural c ontexts.