C Corresponding author. Email: v. Background : We examined links among face visibility on dating-profile pictures, self-perceived attractiveness, condom use self-efficacy, and unprotected receptive anal intercourse URAI in young men who have sex with men YMSM; ages 18β24 years using online dating applications e. Methods : Participants reported their face visibility on their main dating-profile picture, attractiveness, condom use self-efficacy, and frequency of URAI in the past 3 months.
Number of casual sex partners and pre-exposure prophylaxis PrEP use were statistically controlled in all analyses. Results : Using a mediated moderation model, we found that a significant attractiveness-by-face-visibility interaction for URAI was fully mediated by condom use self-efficacy. Specifically, lower face visibility on profile pictures related to lower condom use self-efficacy, which in turn related to higher URAI, but only among highly attractive YMSM.
Conclusions : Our findings suggest that attractive YMSM who show less-visible faces on their dating profiles could be at particularly high risk for sexually transmissible infections. This study has potentially important clinical implications because dating applications have become one of the most common ways for YMSM to find sexual partners.
Keywords: men who have sex with men, young adults, online dating application, face visibility, attractiveness, condom, unprotected sex, sexually transmissible infections. Location-based online dating applications e. Grindr, Tinder have been increasingly popular among men who have sex with men MSM to find sexual partners, and this can potentially put them at higher risks for sexually transmissible infections STIs. A profile picture is one of the most important features of online dating applications.
Users are often selective about what to show because their profile pictures can determine their success on dating applications. One possible explanation is that gay men with high self-stigma who showed less-visible faces on dating applications might have concerns about negative consequences e. These concerns, coupled with negative attitudes towards their sexual orientation, might increase their desire to find quick, anonymous sex.
