Sexually Explicit Internet Media Consumption and Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Chinese Male Sexual Minorities: The Moderating Role of Perceived Realism

ABSTRACT

Western research has suggested that viewing sexually explicit internet media (SEIM) may result in sexual risk behaviors (SRBs) among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men. This study explored the relationship between SEIM consumption and SRBs and whether perceived realism could moderate this relationship among Chinese male sexual minorities. We assessed SEIM consumption from two aspects: consumption frequency and preference for specific content (condomless and group sex). This study recruited 360 participants from various online channels. Consistent with the sexual script acquisition, activation, application model (₃AM), we found that both SEIM consumption frequency and content preference were related to SRBs, and that perceived realism moderated the relationship between SEIM consumption and SRBs. Preference for group sex SEIM was significantly associated with an increased likelihood of casual sex when perceived realism was higher. SEIM use frequency was significantly associated with an increased likelihood of unprotected anal intercourse when perceived realism was higher. These findings may be used to promote HIV prevention, which necessitates joint effort from multiple stakeholders.

Data availability statement

Study data is available upon request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Authors’ contributions

Miaomiao Li: Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing-original draft.Yue Liu: Conceptualization, Methodology, Data curation.Lijun Zheng: Conceptualization, Methodology, Resources, Supervision, Project administration, Writing-review & editing.

Code availability

Model code is available upon request.

Consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Consent for publication

All the authors have seen and approved the manuscript for publication.

Ethics approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Additional information

Funding

This research is sponsored by Natural Science Foundation of Chongqing, China (cstc2020jcyj).