Seeking sex partners through the internet and mobile phone applications among men who have sex with men in Taiwan

ABSTRACT

It has become popular for men who have sex with men (MSM) to use mobile-phone geosocial networking applications (mobile apps) to find sex partners. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in Taiwan to compare the sexual and substance-use behaviors of MSM seeking sex partners through the internet and mobile apps. Of the 1060 participants, 65.8% used the internet via computer and 37.7% used a mobile app to find sexual partners, while 30.3% used recreational drugs or alcohol in the previous 6 months. MSM who exclusively used mobile apps to seek sex partners were significantly more likely than MSM seeking sex via computer to be older, to have used recreational drugs or alcohol, and to have sex with HIV-positive partners. Additionally, using mobile apps to seek sex partners was significantly associated with having sex with online partners through either mobile apps or computer-based internet use (adjusted odds ratio (AOR), 7.12 [3.87–13.11]), self-reporting as HIV-positive (AOR, 2.24 [1.12–4.12]), using recreational drugs (AOR, 1.67 [1.21–2.32]), having disclosed HIV status to sexual partners (AOR, 1.44 [1.03–2.02]), and having sex with HIV-positive partners (AOR, 1.81 [1.06–3.10]). In conclusion, the mobile apps may serve as a feasible platform for HIV-positive MSM to find other HIV-positive partners.

KEYWORDS:

• Sex seeking
• internet
• mobile app
• MSM
• HIV risk behaviors

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to acknowledge and thank all participants of the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by grants [DOH102-DC-1402] from the Centers for Disease Control in Taiwan.