Sexual mixing patterns among male–female partnerships in Melbourne, Australia
Kate E. Greaves A B , Christopher K. Fairley
A B , Jaimie L. Engel A B , Jason J. Ong A B , Elena Rodriguez A , Tiffany R. Phillips A B # and Eric P. F. Chow A B C # *
A Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Alfred Health, Melbourne, Vic. 3053, Australia.
B Central Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Vic. 3004, Australia.
C Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic. 3053, Australia.
Handling Editor: Matthew Hogben
Sexual Health 19(1) 33-38 https://doi.org/10.1071/SH21161
Submitted: 25 August 2021 Accepted: 2 December 2021 Published: 8 March 2022
© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)
Abstract
Background: Individuals who have both opposite- and same-sex partners have the potential to pass sexually transmitted infections (STIs) between high- and low-risk populations. Our aim was to examine assortative sexual mixing in terms of same-sex activity among male–female partnerships.
Methods: This was a retrospective repeated cross-sectional study of male–female partnerships attending the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre (MSHC) from 2015 to 2019. Sex of sexual partners was collected via computer-assisted self-interview. We calculated the proportion of partnerships where at least one individual reported same-sex partners in the previous 12 months and the degree of assortativity by bisexuality.
Results: A total of 2112 male–female partnerships (i.e. 4224 individuals) were included, with a median age of 27 years (IQR 23–31). Overall, 89.3% (1885/2112) of male–female partnerships did not report any other same-sex partners; however, in 9.5% (201/2112) of partnerships, same-sex partners were reported by one individual and in 1.2% (26/2112) of partnerships, both individuals reported same-sex partners. Bisexuality appeared to be slightly assortative in male–female partnerships (r = 0.163, 95% CI: 0.150–0.176; P < 0.001).
Conclusion: One in 10 individuals in male–female partnerships had at least one same-sex partner within the previous 12 months. Individuals were minorly selective by bisexuality, suggesting the patterns of bisexual mixing in male–female partners are more variable and this may have a significant impact on STI transmission in heterosexual populations.
Keywords: assortativity, bisexual, heterosexual, mixing, opposite-sex, same-sex, sexual activity, sexual behaviour, sexual mixing, sexual networks, sexual orientation, sexual partners, sexual practice.
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