EPIDEMIOLOGY AND SOCIAL SCIENCE A Comparison of On-Line and Off-Line Sexual Risk in Men Who Have Sex With Men An Event-Based On-Line Survey

Objective: To assess whether men who have sex with men (MSM) are more likely to report unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) with partners met on-line compared with those met off-line. Methods: A total of 6122 individuals consented to participate in an anonymous behavioral survey on-line. This event-based analysis is limited to the 1683 men from the United States and Canada who had sex in the 3 months before the study and reported that their last sexual encounter included a new or casual male partner or partners. Prevalence and predictors of UAI were analyzed separately for the 386 men reporting more than 1 partner (multiple) and the 1297 men reporting only 1 (single) partner in their last encounter. Results: Of the 1683 MSM recruited on-line, 51 % met their partner(s) in their last sexual encounter on-line and 23 % reported UAI. No difference in risk for UAI was found for partners met on-line versus off-line in the bivariate or multivariate analyses. In a mul