title: Online dating among Australian gay and bisexual men: romance or hooking up?
abstract: Increasingly, gay and bisexual men (GBM) meet casual sex partners online and this has been associated with sexual risk behavior. How do GBM meet regular partners? This online anonymous survey of 4215 GBM included 2562 men with a primary regular partner (PRP) who were included in these analyses. Mean age of the sample was 38.1 years. 60.3 % had met their PRP at least 2 years earlier. Meeting their PRP online increased from 14.0 % before 2001 to 79.9 % in 2013-2014. At all time points, men who met their PRP online were somewhat older than those who met their PRP offline. Regardless of how they met their PRP, most men met casual sex partners online. Among GBM, meeting sexual and romantic partners online has replaced other methods, for all age groups. The population of GBM who use the internet for this purpose is now equivalent to all sexually active GBM.
authors.affiliation: Kirby Institute, The University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW, 2052, Australia. gprestage@kirby.unsw.edu.au.|Australian Research Centre in Sex Health and Society, La Trobe University, 215 Franklin Street, Melbourne, 3000, Australia. gprestage@kirby.unsw.edu.au.
authors.forename: Garrett
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Prestage
authors.affiliation: Kirby Institute, The University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW, 2052, Australia. bbavinton@kirby.unsw.edu.au.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bavinton
authors.affiliation: Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK. Jeffrey.grierson@anglia.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Grierson
authors.affiliation: Kirby Institute, The University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW, 2052, Australia. idown@kirby.unsw.edu.au.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Down
authors.affiliation: Kirby Institute, The University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW, 2052, Australia. pkeen@kirby.unsw.edu.au.
authors.forename: Phillip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Keen
authors.affiliation: Kirby Institute, The University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW, 2052, Australia. jbradley@kirby.unsw.edu.au.
authors.forename: Jack
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bradley
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Centre in Sex Health and Society, La Trobe University, 215 Franklin Street, Melbourne, 3000, Australia. dduncan8@une.edu.au.|University of New England, Armidale, Australia. dduncan8@une.edu.au.
authors.forename: Duane
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Duncan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D001727:Bisexuality / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission*; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012747:Sexual Partners; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D047568:Unsafe Sex / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Gay men; HIV; Men who have sex with men; Relationships; Sexual behavior; Sexual risk; Sexuality