Communication of HIV serostatus between potential sex partners in personal ads.
We studied reference to HIV in personal ads from 1986 to 1993 to assess knowledge of HIV serostatus as a criterion for selecting sex partners. Personals increased exponentially during 1986 to 1993. Men seeking men (MSM) were more likely (8%) to mention HIV than persons seeking other situations (0% to 1.6%). The proportion of personals mentioning HIV increased from 0.5% to 2.9% globally and from 1.9% to 12.2% for MSM (chi-square tests for trend; p < .001). Younger MSM mentioned HIV less often than MSM older than 35 years (odds ratio = .46; 95% confidence interval: 31 to .70). The increasing proportion of personals mentioning HIV suggests that serostatus is increasingly used as a criterion for partner selection, although most (84%) such ads concerned MSM. We discussed the implications of these findings for preventing sexual transmission of HIV.
Hamers
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FF
Epidemic Intelligence Service, National Center for Prevention Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA.
Bueller
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HA
Peterman
T A
TA
D000328:Adult; D000329:Advertising / Q000639:trends*; D000367:Age Factors; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005260:Female; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012747:Sexual Partners / Q000523:psychology*; D014342:Truth Disclosure; D014481:United States; D014504:Urban Health