A comparison of sexual behavior patterns among men who have sex with men and heterosexual men and women.
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVE: Men who have sex with men (MSM) have higher rates of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections than women and heterosexual men. This elevated risk persists across age groups and reflects biological and behavioral factors; yet, there have been few direct comparisons of sexual behavior patterns between these populations. METHODS: We compared sexual behavior patterns of MSM and male and female heterosexuals aged 18-39 using 4 population-based random digit dialing surveys. A 1996-1998 survey in 4 US cities and 2 Seattle surveys (2003 and 2006) provided estimates for MSM; a 2003-2004 Seattle survey provided data about heterosexual men and women. RESULTS: Sexual debut occurred earlier among MSM than heterosexuals. MSM reported longer cumulative lifetime periods of new partner acquisition than heterosexuals and a more gradual decline in new partnership formation with age. Among MSM, 86% of 18- to 24-year-olds and 72% of 35- to 39-year-olds formed a new partnership during the previous year, compared with 56% of heterosexual men and 34% of women at 18-24 years, and 21% and 10%, respectively, at 35-39 years. MSM were also more likely to choose partners >5 years older and were 2-3 times as likely as heterosexuals to report recent concurrent partnerships. MSM reported more consistent condom use during anal sex than heterosexuals reported during vaginal sex. CONCLUSIONS: MSM have longer periods of partnership acquisition, a higher prevalence of partnership concurrency, and more age disassortative mixing than heterosexuals. These factors likely help to explain higher HIV/sexually transmitted infections rates among MSM, despite higher levels of condom use.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
These factors, along with sexual network or higher community disease prevalence, can increase the risk for STIs among MSM compared with other groups.
“These factors, along with sexual network or higher community disease prevalence, can increase the risk for STIs among MSM compared with other groups (183,184).”
From Sexually Transmitted Infections Treatment Guidelines, 2021 (2021) · cites this paper as [183]
The Discussion (page unavailable) says MSM’s sexual-network patterns may help explain their higher HIV/STI rates and that network connectivity may enable more efficient transmission. The Introduction documents higher HIV and syphilis rates among MSM, but our copy does not identify higher community disease prevalence itself as a cause of increased STI risk. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
The social organization of sexuality: sexual practices in the United States
(1995) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.32-4802a · Cited by 2,888 · see citing works
Concurrent partnerships and the spread of HIV
Morris, M., & Kretzschmar, M. (1997) · AIDS · doi:10.1097/00002030-199705000-00012 · Cited by 984 · see citing works
Self-citationLaumann, E. O., & Youm, Y. (1999) · Sexually Transmitted Diseases · doi:10.1097/00007435-199905000-00003 · Cited by 603 · see citing works
Millett, G. A., Flores, S. A., Peterson, J. L., & Bakeman, R. A. (2007) · AIDS · doi:10.1097/qad.0b013e3282e9a64b · Cited by 592 · see citing works
Greater Risk for HIV Infection of Black Men Who Have Sex With Men: A Critical Literature Review
Millett, G. A., Peterson, J. L., Wolitski, R. J., & Stall, R. D. (2006) · American Journal of Public Health · doi:10.2105/ajph.2005.066720 · Cited by 514 · see citing works
Sexual and Drug Behavior Patterns and HIV and STD Racial Disparities: The Need for New Directions
Hallfors, D. D., Iritani, B. J., Miller, W. C., & Bauer, D. J. (2006) · American Journal of Public Health · doi:10.2105/ajph.2005.075747 · Cited by 379 · see citing works
Reducing the Risk of Sexual HIV Transmission
Varghese, B., Maher, J. E., Peterman, T. A., Branson, B. M., & Steketee, R. W. (2002) · Sexually Transmitted Diseases · doi:10.1097/00007435-200201000-00007 · Cited by 328 · see citing works
The continuing HIV epidemic among men who have sex with men
Catania, J. A., Osmond, D. H., Stall, R. D., Pollack, L. M., Paul, J. P., Blower, S. M., Binson, D., Canchola, J. A., Mills, T. C., Fisher, L., et al. (2001) · American Journal of Public Health · doi:10.2105/ajph.91.6.907 · Cited by 312 · see citing works
Morris, M., Kurth, A., Hamilton, D. T., et al. (2009) · American Journal of Public Health · doi:10.2105/ajph.2008.147835 · Cited by 312 · see citing works
Self-citationConcurrent Sexual Partnerships Among Men in the United States
Adimora, A. A., Schoenbach, V. J., & Doherty, I. A. (2007) · American Journal of Public Health · doi:10.2105/ajph.2006.099069 · Cited by 230 · see citing works
HIV Serosorting in Men Who Have Sex With Men: Is It Safe?
Golden, M. R., Stekler, J. D., Hughes, J. P., & Wood, R. W. (2008) · JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes · doi:10.1097/qai.0b013e31818455e8 · Cited by 150 · see citing works
Self-citationBerry, M., Raymond, H. F., & McFarland, W. (2007) · AIDS · doi:10.1097/qad.0b013e3282f12f41 · Cited by 143 · see citing works
Concurrent Sexual Partnerships and Primary HIV Infection: A Critical Interaction
Eaton, J. W., Hallett, T. B., & Garnett, G. P. (2010) · AIDS and Behavior · doi:10.1007/s10461-010-9787-8 · Cited by 137 · see citing works
Persistence of Racial Differences in Attitudes Toward Homosexuality in the United States
Glick, S. N., & Golden, M. R. (2010) · JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes · doi:10.1097/qai.0b013e3181f275e0 · Cited by 135 · see citing works
Self-citationSocial and Sexual Networks: Their Role in the Spread of HIV/AIDS Among Young Gay Men
Morris, M., Zavisca, J. R., & Dean, L. (1995) · AIDS Education and Prevention · doi:10.1521/aeap.1995.7.supp.24 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
Self-citationConcurrent Partnerships, Acute Infection and HIV Epidemic Dynamics Among Young Adults in Zimbabwe
Goodreau, S. M., Cassels, S. L., Kasprzyk, D., et al. (2010) · AIDS and Behavior · doi:10.1007/s10461-010-9858-x · Cited by 121 · see citing works
Mills, T. C., Stall, R. D., Pollack, L. M., Paul, J. P., Binson, D., Canchola, J. A., & Catania, J. A. (2001) · American Journal of Public Health · doi:10.2105/ajph.91.6.980 · Cited by 115 · see citing works
Concurrent Partnerships, Nonmonogamous Partners, and Substance Use Among Women in the United States
Adimora, A. A., Schoenbach, V. J., Taylor, E. M., Khan, M. R., & Schwartz, R. J. (2010) · American Journal of Public Health · doi:10.2105/ajph.2009.174292 · Cited by 113 · see citing works
Hurt, C. B., Matthews, D. D., Calabria, M. S., Green, K. A., Adimora, A. A., Golin, C. E., & Hightow‐Weidman, L. (2010) · JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes · doi:10.1097/qai.0b013e3181c99114 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Helms, D. J., Weinstock, H., Mahle, K. C., et al. (2009) · JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes · doi:10.1097/qai.0b013e3181945f03 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Murphy, G., Charlett, A., Jordan, L., Osner, N., Gill, O. N., & Parry, J. V. (2004) · AIDS · doi:10.1097/00002030-200401230-00016 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Sexual Role and Transmission of HIV Type 1 among Men Who Have Sex with Men, in Peru
Goodreau, S. M., Goicochea, L. P., & Sánchez, J. (2005) · The Journal of Infectious Diseases · doi:10.1086/425268 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
A probability sample of gay urban males: The use of two‐phase adaptive sampling
Blair, J. (1999) · The Journal of Sex Research · doi:10.1080/00224499909551965 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Goodreau, S. M., & Golden, M. R. (2007) · Sexually Transmitted Infections · doi:10.1136/sti.2007.025627 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Self-citationAral, S. O., Patel, D. A., Holmes, K. K., & Foxman, B. (2005) · Sexually Transmitted Diseases · doi:10.1097/01.olq.0000175370.08709.72 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Self-citationPatterns of age mixing and sexually transmitted infections
Kraut-Becher, J. R., & Aral, S. O. (2006) · International Journal of STD & AIDS · doi:10.1258/095646206777323481 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Self-citationMcGowan, I., & Taylor, D. J. (2010) · Sexually Transmitted Diseases · doi:10.1097/olq.0b013e3181cd70c2 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Levin-Sparenberg, E., Koopman, J. S., Aral, S. O., et al. (2009) · Sexually Transmitted Diseases · doi:10.1097/olq.0b013e3181a819db · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Self-citationWand, H. C., Wilson, D. P., Yan, P., et al. (2009) · Journal of the International AIDS Society · doi:10.1186/1758-2652-12-19 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
A Major HIV Risk Factor for Young Men Who Have Sex With Men Is Sex With Older Partners
Coburn, B. J., & Blower, S. M. (2010) · JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes · doi:10.1097/qai.0b013e3181d43999 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Brooks, R. A., Lee, S., Newman, P. A., & Leibowitz, A. A. (2008) · AIDS Education and Prevention · doi:10.1521/aeap.2008.20.4.312 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Menza, T. W., Kerani, R. P., Handsfield, H. H., et al. (2009) · AIDS and Behavior · doi:10.1007/s10461-009-9626-y · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Glick, S. N., Hughes, J. P., Foxman, B., et al. (2010) · Annals of Epidemiology · doi:10.1016/j.annepidem.2009.11.003 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Self-citationSanthakumaran, S., O'Brien, K., Bakker, R., et al. (2010) · Sexually Transmitted Infections · doi:10.1136/sti.2009.041780 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- [4]Purcell DW Johnson C Lansky A Prejean J Stein R Denning P Calculating disease rates for risk groups: estimating the national population size of men who have sex with men (abstract) Paper presented at: National STD Prevention Conference 2010 Atlanta, Georgia
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Sexually Transmitted Infections Treatment Guidelines, 2021
Workowski, K. A., Bachmann, L. H., Chan, P. A., Johnston, C. M., Muzny, C. A., Park, I., Reno, H., Zenilman, J. M., & Bolan, G. A. (2021) · MMWR. Recommendations and Reports · doi:10.15585/mmwr.rr7004a1 · Cited by 2,759 · see citing works
Spicknall, I. H., Gift, T. L., Bernstein, K. T., & Aral, S. O. (2017) · Sexually Transmitted Infections · doi:10.1136/sextrans-2016-052676 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Ueda, P., & Mercer, C. H. (2019) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2019-030708 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Jenness, S. M., Weiss, K. M., Prasad, P., Zlotorzynska, M., & Sanchez, T. (2019) · Sexually Transmitted Diseases · doi:10.1097/olq.0000000000000896 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
- Authors
- Glick, S. N., Morris, M., Foxman, B., Aral, S. O., Manhart, L. E., Holmes, K. K., & Golden, M. R.
- Affiliations
- George Washington University (US)
- University of Washington (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US)
- Corresponding author
- Glick, Sara Nelson
- Holmes, King K.
- Golden, Matthew R.
- ORCID
- Venue
- JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes
- Published
- 2012-05-01
- Volume
- 60
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 83-90
- ISSN
- 1525-4135 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3334840
- OpenAlex
- W2091964860
- Cited by
- 199
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 8.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH054320)
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (K23AI001846, T32AI007140)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R24HD042828)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health
- Keywords
- men who have sex with men, heterosexuals, sexual behavior patterns, sexual initiation, condom use, anal sex, HIV risk, sexually transmitted infections, young adults
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Female, Humans, Male, Risk Factors, Sexual Behavior, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, United States, Young Adult
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
