AIDS Behav

Social capital, the sum of an individual's resource-containing social network connections, has been proposed as a facilitator of successful HIV care engagement. We explored relationships between social capital, psychological covariates (depression, stigma and internalized homonegativity), and viral suppression in a sample of young Black gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (YB-GBMSM). We recruited 81 HIV-positive YB-GBMSM 18-24\ua0years of age from a clinic setting. Participants completed a cross-sectional survey, and HIV-1 viral load (VL) measurements were extracted from the medical record. Sixty-five percent (65%) were virally suppressed (HIV-1 VL\u2009 64\u200940 copies/ml). Forty-seven percent (47%) had a positive depression screen. Depressive symptoms affected viral suppression differently in YB-GBMSM with lower vs. higher social capital (p\u2009=\u20090.046, test for statistical interaction between depression and social capital). The odds of viral suppression among YB-GBMSM with lower social capital was 93% lower among those with depressive symptoms (OR 0.07, p\u2009=\u20090.002); however, there was no association between depressive symptoms and viral suppression among those with higher social capital. Our results suggest that social capital may buffer the strong negative effects of depressive symptoms on clinical outcomes in YB-GBMSM living with HIV. In addition to treating depression, there is a role for interventions to augment social capital among YB-GBMSM living with HIV as a strategy for enhancing care engagement.P30 AI050409/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/United StatesU01 PS005112/PS/NCHHSTP CDC HHS/United StatesP30AI050409/Center for AIDS Research, Emory University/U01 PS005112/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/2019-09-01T00:00:00Z29619586PMC6076871661