"What Are You Looking For?" Investigating the Association Between Dating App Use and Sexual Risk Behaviors

Introduction: Literature on the association between dating app use and sexual risk behaviors is still scant and inconclusive. Aim: To investigate the association between dating app use and sexual risk behaviors, considering the role of motives for using them. Methods: 1,278 Italian respondents completed an online questionnaire assessing demographics, motives and patterns of dating app use, sexual behaviors and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) diagnoses. One-way ANOVA and Chi-squared analyses were used to investigate differences among the three subsamples (active vs former vs non-users). Multiple linear and logistic regression analyses were run to investigate the role of demographics, motives and patterns of dating app use on sexual risk taking and sexual health. Main outcome measures: Number of protected and unprotected full sexual partners in the last year; frequency of hook-ups in the last year; STIs lifetime. Results: Active users, even more than former app users, were more likely to report risky behaviors and STI diagnoses than non-users (x(2)= 26.37, P<.001). Installing the apps to find friends or romantic partners was associated with less protected (find friends B= -0.364, P=.015; find romantic partners B= -0.300, P=.006) and unprotected (find friends B= -0.346, P=.016; find romantic partners B= -0.360, P<.001) sexual intercourses. Installing the apps to find sexual partners predicted higher odds of unprotected sexual activity (B= 0.193, P=.048), hook-ups (B = 0.496, P<.001) and STIs diagnoses (OR= 2.835, P=.025). Accessing apps more frequently and more years of usage was associated with reporting risky sexual behaviors and STI diagnoses among active users (app access frequency OR = 1.461, P=.003; usage years OR = 1.089, P=.013). Conclusion: Installing the apps to search for sexual partners, using them at length since first installation and accessing them frequently are significant factors in influencing the association between dating app use and sexual risk behaviors. Copyright (C) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the International Society for Sexual Medicine.