Reproducibility package for Using Survey Data To Understand The Health Needs Of Difficult To Reach Populations: Evidence From A Community Survey Regarding The Individual And Contextual Correlates Of Sex Life Happiness Amongst European MSM
Overview
Being happy with one’s sex life is an important facet of sexual health. Several studies have found associations between sex life happiness and a range of individual (or proximate) and contextual (usually country-level) factors amongst men who have sex with men (MSM). Using a novel dataset, the 2017 European Men-Who-Have-Sex-With-Men Internet Survey (EMIS-2017), we are able to simultaneously explore the association of both individual and contextual variables, and sex life happiness, and, ultimately, health. Understanding and quantifying this link is important for policymakers concerned with improving health outcomes in minority, and often marginalised, populations.
Results: Recency of sex and/or being in a steady sexual relationship had the largest positive associations with higher self-reported sex life happiness. Being single had the largest negative association. Among individual-level factors, not having experienced homophobia and being out to a majority of one’s social network were most strongly associated with sex-life happiness. At the country-level, there is evidence that living in a country with a more authoritarian political regime is associated with less sex life happiness. Mediation analysis shows that authoritarian regimes are also indirectly negatively associated with sex life happiness via the likelihood of being open about one’s sexuality. Our study provides a strong basis for further research exploring the potentially complex associations between proximate and contextual variables in determining sex life happiness amongst MSM populations.
Reproducibility Package
| Repository name | URI |
|---|---|
| Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank) | https://reproducibility.worldbank.org |
Reproducibility
Paper exhibits were reproduced on a computer with the following specifications:
• OS: Windows 11 Enterprise
• Processor: Intel(R) Xeon(R) Gold 6226R CPU @ 2.90GHz
• Memory available: 32.0 GB
Runtime: 4 hours.
Once users have access to all the data, to reproduce the findings, a new user needs to:
- Adjust the file path in the
Rep2.dodo-file. - Run the code.
Data
Some data is limited-access and has not been included in the reproducibility package. For more details, refer to the README file.
Description
| Author | Affiliation | |
|---|---|---|
| Alexander Hamilton | Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office | alexander.hamilton@fcdo.gov.uk |
| Ford Hickson | London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine | Ford.Hickson@lshtm.ac.uk |
| Axel Jeremias Schmidt | London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine | Axel.Schmidt@lshtm.ac.uk |
2026-03-12
Scope and coverage
| Location | Code |
|---|---|
| World | WLD |
Disclaimer
The materials in the reproducibility packages are distributed as they were prepared by the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this event do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank, the Executive Directors of the World Bank, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the materials included in the reproducibility package.
Access and rights
| Name | URI |
|---|---|
| Modified BSD3 | https://opensource.org/license/bsd-3-clause/ |
Contacts
| Name | Affiliation | |
|---|---|---|
| Alexander Hamilton | Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office | alexander.hamilton@fcdo.gov.uk |
| Reproducibility WBG | World Bank | reproducibility@worldbank.org |
Information on metadata
| Name | Abbreviation | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reproducibility WBG | DECDI | World Bank - Development Impact Department | Verification and preparation of metadata |
2026-03-12
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