Sexual compulsivity and sexual risk behavior frequency among men: Evidence of predictive utility

Background: Sexual compulsivity (SC) is typically associated with increased sexual risk behaviors; however, a dearth of research exists on how higher levels of SC may differentially influence the frequency of risk. Methods: Data were drawn from an Internet-based daily study of men's (N=1810; 88.1% heterosexual) sexual behaviors. Participants completed both baseline demographic and sexual history information, including sexual compulsivity (10 items), as well as daily diaries on sexual behaviors, including (all no/yes) vaginal sex, masturbation, manual genital sex and anal sex for 30 consecutive days. We: 1) used latent class analysis (MPlus, 5.0; all p<.05) to explore subtypes/profiles of SC; 2) used subtypes as predictors of risk behavior frequency during the 30 days. Results: Model comparison yielded four-subtypes of SC. Graphical plots identified a high SC profile (N=165; 9.1%) and three lower profiles (91.9%) which were dichotomized for analyses (low SC/high SC). Men with higher SC had a significantly greater number of sexual partners (B=1.02), greater frequencies of anal-sex only (B=0.23) or manual-genital sex only (B=0.83) during sexual events, and a higher frequency of masturbation (B=1.46) compared to men with lower SC. Vaginal sex was not associated with SC. Conclusions: The Sexual Compulsivity Scale identified a group of men who have higher frequencies of certain prospective sexual behaviors with a greater number of sexual partners. This tool may have clinical utility to identify men who can be targeted for sexual health promotion messages or interventions.