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Assessing Self-Control and Geosocial Networking App Behavior Among an Online Sample of Men Who Have Sex with Men

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Abstract

Geosocial networking phone applications (GSN apps) used to meet sexual partners have become popular in the men who have sex with men (MSM) communities of the USA since 2009. Previous studies have shown greater incidence of gonorrhea and chlamydia and lower testing frequency for HIV testing among GSN app users when compared to non-users. The present study aims to determine the type, number, and frequency of apps used, as well as the association between dispositional self-control and health-related behaviors. Participants (n = 146) were recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk program to respond to a brief GSN app marketing survey. Multivariate regression was used to determine differences in app priorities, length of app use, and number of sexual partners between high self-control and low self-control participants. A majority of the participants reported using Grindr (78 %) followed by Scruff (19 %), Growlr (12 %), and Jack’d (12 %). Most individuals used one app only (58 %), but a significant proportion reported using two apps (28 %) or three or more apps (14 %). Respondents with low self-control were more likely to report a higher number of hours using GSN apps and a higher number of sexual partners, controlling for race/ethnicity, education, employment, and HIV status. Given the popularity of this burgeoning communication medium, these findings have important implications for developing prevention resources for different segments of GSN app users.

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Acknowledgment

The authors acknowledge support from the Morrison Family Center at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. MRB was supported by the UCLA Postdoctoral Fellowship Training Program in Global HIV Prevention Research (Currier and Gorbach, PIs]); T32MH080634.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Los Angeles LGBT Center, McDonald/Wright Building, 1625N Schrader Blvd, Room 205, Los Angeles, CA, 90028-6213, USA

    Matthew R Beymer

  2. Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Matthew R Beymer

  3. Anderson School of Management, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Aimee Drolet Rossi & Suzanne B Shu

Authors
  1. Matthew R Beymer
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  2. Aimee Drolet Rossi
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  3. Suzanne B Shu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Matthew R Beymer.

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Study Approval

This study was approved by the University of California, Los Angeles South General Institutional Review Board #5 (IRB00004474; project no. 13-001391).

Contributor Statement

MRB: analysis, critically revising manuscript and approval. AD: conception, design, analysis and interpretation of data, and critically revising manuscript. SBS: conception.

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Beymer, M.R., Rossi, A.D. & Shu, S.B. Assessing Self-Control and Geosocial Networking App Behavior Among an Online Sample of Men Who Have Sex with Men. J Urban Health 93, 698–708 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-016-0056-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-016-0056-7

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