Sexual risk and HIV prevention behaviors among African-American and Latino MSM social networking users
International Journal of STD & AIDS: Clinical practice in sexual health
Published online on July 19, 2013
Abstract
This study explores the feasibility of recruiting minority men who have sex with men Facebook users for human immunodeficiency virus prevention studies and notes demographic and sexual risk behaviors. Facebook-registered men who have sex with men (N = 118) were recruited using online and offline methods. Participants validated Facebook-user status through using a Facebook Connect (computer science) application. Participants were primarily Latino (60.2%) and African-American (28.0%), with 33.1% using social media to find sex partners. Black men who have sex with men social networking users reported engaging in a lower frequency (coefficient = –0.48, p < 0.05) of unprotected receptive anal intercourse compared to Latino men who have sex with men. Results suggest that minority social media users can be recruited for human immunodeficiency virus studies and that sexual risk behavioral differences exist among minority social networking users. Findings highlight the importance of incorporating technologies into population-focused human immunodeficiency virus interventions.