Attractiveness, profile-picture face visibility and unprotected receptive anal intercourse in young men who have sex with men using online dating applications
Val Wongsomboon A C , Emils Sietins B and Gregory D. Webster AA Department of Psychology, University of Florida, 945 Center Drive, Gainesville, FL 32603, USA.
B School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
C Corresponding author. Email: v.wongsomboon@ufl.edu
Sexual Health 18(3) 212-220 https://doi.org/10.1071/SH20190
Submitted: 14 October 2020 Accepted: 19 February 2021 Published: 19 May 2021
Journal compilation © CSIRO 2021 Open Access CC BY-NC-ND
Abstract
Background: We examined links among face visibility on dating-profile pictures, self-perceived attractiveness, condom use self-efficacy, and unprotected receptive anal intercourse (URAI) in 223 young men who have sex with men (YMSM; ages 18–24 years) using online dating applications (e.g. Grindr). Methods: Participants reported their face visibility on their main dating-profile picture, attractiveness, condom use self-efficacy, and frequency of URAI in the past 3 months. Number of casual sex partners and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use were statistically controlled in all analyses. Results: Using a mediated moderation model, we found that a significant attractiveness-by-face-visibility interaction for URAI was fully mediated by condom use self-efficacy. Specifically, lower face visibility on profile pictures related to lower condom use self-efficacy, which in turn related to higher URAI, but only among highly attractive YMSM. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that attractive YMSM who show less-visible faces on their dating profiles could be at particularly high risk for sexually transmissible infections. This study has potentially important clinical implications because dating applications have become one of the most common ways for YMSM to find sexual partners.
Keywords: men who have sex with men, young adults, online dating application, face visibility, attractiveness, condom, unprotected sex, sexually transmissible infections.
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