Abstract
Although many sexual and gender minorities (SGM) assigned male at birth (AMAB) use sexual networking applications intended for adult sexual minority men, little is known about adolescents’ use of these technologies and characteristics of their online-met partners. We conducted an online survey of 219 sexually experienced SGM AMAB adolescents in the USA aged 15–17 (39.3% racial/ethnic minority; 74.9% gay; 94.1% cisgender male). Questions assessed app use patterns, partner-seeking behaviors on sexual minority male-specific apps vs. social media/other dating apps, app-met partner characteristics, and sexual behavior with app-met partners. Most (70.3%) used apps for sexual minority men, 14.6% used social media/other apps to meet partners, and 15.1% used neither. Nearly 60% of adolescents who used any type of app reported having met people from the apps in person, and nearly 90% of these reported at least one online-met sexual partner. Most partners were reportedly older than participants, and participants were more likely to report condomless receptive anal sex with older (vs. younger) online-met partners. Although partnerships were primarily sexual in nature, a minority reported friendships or serious partnerships. Meeting same-sex/gender partners via applications for adults may be common among SGM AMAB adolescents, which has implications for their sexual health and well-being.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1078-1087 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Journal of sex research |
| Volume | 57 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 12 2020 |
Funding
This work was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences [TL1 TR001423]; Sexualities Project at Northwestern?University. This project was funded by the Sexualities Project at Northwestern. Ashley Kraus was supported by training grant TL1 TR001423 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences during manuscript preparation. This content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the views of the National Institutes of Health. We would like to thank Kai Korpak, Shariell Crosby, Kitty Buehler, and Dan Ryan for their role in survey programming, data collection, and data processing, and Addie Shrodes and Kyle Jozsa for their feedback on earlier drafts of the paper. This project was funded by the Sexualities Project at Northwestern. Ashley Kraus was supported by training grant TL1 TR001423 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences during manuscript preparation. This content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the views of the National Institutes of Health. We would like to thank Kai Korpak, Shariell Crosby, Kitty Buehler, and Dan Ryan for their role in survey programming, data collection, and data processing, and Addie Shrodes and Kyle Jozsa for their feedback on earlier drafts of the paper.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Psychology
- Gender Studies
- History and Philosophy of Science
- Sociology and Political Science
