Sexual risk behaviors among men seeking men online

Recent research has focused on the Internet as a venue that may facilitate sexual risk behaviors among men who have sex with men (MSM). The purpose of this study was to identify risk behaviors associated with meeting sexual partners on the Internet. A cross-sectional Internet-based survey was used to collect data in the spring of 2004. The sample included 1,026 sexually active MSM recruited from a variety of Internet venues. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify correlates of using the Internet to meet sexual partners within the previous six months. More than 6 out of 10 of the respondents reported having engaged in sexual activity with a partner they met online in the previous six months (n = 628; 61%). Men with Internet partners were more likely to have used Amyl Nitrate inhalants (OR = 1.50; 95% CI = 1.07-2.10), more likely to have had unprotected anal intercourse with more than four partners in the previous six months (OR = 5.00; 95% CI = 2.02 – 12.16), more likely to have ever met a sex partner at a bath house (OR = 1.51; 95% CI = 1.11-2.06), and to have been diagnosed with an STI in the previous six months (OR = 3.13; 95% CI = 1.34-7.32). These findings suggest that MSM who meet sex partners online engage in a number of high-risk sexual behaviors that may lead to the transmission of STIs. Internet-based interventions tailored for MSM who meet sex partners online are needed to reduce sexual risk-taking.