Objectives: Smartphone geosocial networking applications, like Grindr, have become a new context through which young men who have sex with men (YMSM) can meet potential sex partners. Geosocial networking applications move beyond online social networking websites like Facebook by utilizing smartphones' geo-location functions to facilitate connections with other users based on their current physical location. This study presents data on HIV risk-taking behaviors of YMSM who use Grindr, comparing the sex behaviors with partners met via the application to behaviors with partners met via other means (e.g., a bar, through friends, online). Methods:Utilizing the geo-locating feature of Grindr, 195 YMSM, aged 18 to 24, were randomly recruited based on their location within West Hollywood and Long Beach, CA between August and October, 2011. Participants completed an online survey.Results: YMSM reported using Grindr for entertainment, socializing, partner seeking, and gay community connection. Seventy-five percent of users reported sexual encounters with partners met on Grindr. YMSM reported significantly higher rates of condom use with partners met on Grindr (59.8%) relative to those partners met elsewhere (41.9%). Only 14.7% reported unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) with their last Grindr partner. YMSM who reported UAI with their last partners from Grindr reported significantly more recent male anal sex partners than YMSM who reported no UAI with their last Grindr-met partners. Conclusions:Grindr was used by YMSM for a variety of reasons, and not exclusively for the purpose of sex partner seeking. Overall YMSM who use Grindr practice safer sex with partners met via the application than with partners met elsewhere. YMSM engaging in UAI with partners on Grindr are an especially high-risk group and should be targeted by prevention efforts. Sexual risk behavior with geosocial networking-located partners could be addressed with mobile HIV prevention applications, or within Grindr and other similar applications.

Objective-To examine the association between sexual health and internet use, including social networking websites such as MySpace and Facebook, among a sample of homeless adolescents at high risk for contracting HIV/AIDS. Methods-201 homeless adolescents were surveyed in 2009 about their internet use.Multivariate logistic regression models assessed how patterns of use were associated with engaging in exchange sex (sex for money, drugs, housing), recent HIV testing, and online partnerseeking behaviors.Results-96.5% reported internet use. Most youth accessed the internet at public libraries or youth service agencies. Increased time online and recent engagement in exchange sex were both positively associated with online partner-seeking. Youth connected to family members online were less likely to practice exchange sex and more likely to report a recent HIV test. Youth connected to street-based peers online were more likely to practice exchange sex, while youth connected to home-based peers online were more likely to report a recent HIV test.Conclusions-Although these data are preliminary, homeless youth need more access to the internet, as access facilitates connecting with family and home-based peers whose presence may reduce sexual risk-taking. Access, however, must be carefully monitored to prevent youth soliciting sex online.As adolescent internet use has moved away from web surfing and anonymous chat rooms to social networking technologies (e.g. MySpace, Facebook, Twitter) (1-2), the implications for the impact of internet use on sexual health have also changed (2-4). Early worries about sexual predation and exposure to inappropriate sexual content online (5-7) have given way to worries about weakened parental influence and the growing influence of potentially risky peers (3-4). With notable exceptions, (6-7) few studies have looked into how internet use is associated with the sexual health of high risk adolescents.The estimated 1.6 million runaway and homeless adolescents in the United States are at great risk for contracting HIV/AIDS (8), with prevalence rates reported as high as 11.5% (9). HIV/AIDS risk for homeless adolescents has been tied to the influence of sexual risk-© 2010 Society for Adolescent Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved All correspondence should be directed to: Eric Rice, Ph.D., at 1149 S. Hill St., Suite 360, Los Angeles, CA, 90015; or ericr@usc.edu.. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. This study examines frequency of internet use, means of accessing the internet, and with whom homeless adolescents connect ...

Little is known about internet and social media use among homeless youth. Consistent with typologies prevalent among housed youth, we found that homeless youth were using internet and social media for entertainment, sociability, and instrumental purposes. Using Haythornwaite’s (2001) premise that it is important to look at the types of ties accessed in understanding the impact of new media, we found that homeless youth were predominantly using e-mail to reach out to their parents, caseworkers, and potential employers, while, using social media to communicate with their peers. Using the “Social Capital” perspective, we found that youth who were connecting to maintained or bridging social ties were more likely to look for jobs and housing online than youth who did not.

Geosocial networking applications (GSN apps) have become increasingly popular among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM). Our study sought to understand whether inclusion of individuals met via GSN apps in participants’ social networks was associated with increased HIV risk behaviors among a probability sample of GSN app using MSM (N=295) recruited in Los Angeles, California. Approximately 20% of participants included a GSN app-met individual as one of their top five closest social network members. Those with a GSN app-met network member had more recent (past 30-day) sexual partners (B=1.21, p<0.05), were nearly twice as likely to have engaged in unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) with their last sexual partner (AOR=2.02, p<0.05), and were nearly four times as likely to have engaged in UAI with their last GSN app-met sexual partner (AOR=3.98, p<0.001). Network-based interventions delivered via GSN apps may be useful in preventing the spread of HIV among MSM.

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Objectives To add to the body of evidence supporting the relationship between social network structures and health, this study examined interconnections among a sample of runaway and homeless youth (RHY) and how position in the aggregated network structure was associated with HIV risk. Methods Individual and social network data were collected from a sample of 136 RHY. A sociomatrix was generated, network visualization was accomplished with a “spring embedder,” and k-cores were examined. Multivariate logistic regression models assessed the associations between peripheral and non-peripheral network position and recent unprotected sex. Results Small numbers of nominations at the individual level aggregated into a large social network with a visible core, periphery (including isolates), and small clusters. Female youth were more likely to be located in the core as were youth who had been homeless for two years or more. Youth at the periphery of the network were less likely to report unprotected sex and had been homeless for a shorter duration. Conclusions Not only was HIV risk a function of risk-taking youth being connected to other risk-taking youth, but also risk was associated with position in the overall structure of the network. We provide suggestions for effective social network-based prevention programs, need for young women’s housing and health programs, as well as the likely added traction that housing-first programs will have with peripheral youth, for whom the pull of street life is less, which may help them to more successfully engage in the structures and opportunities of housing programs.

Research shows runaway and homeless youth are reluctant to seek help from traditional health providers. The Internet can be useful in engaging this population and meeting their needs for sexual health information, including information about HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Using a sample of homeless youth living in Los Angeles, California in June 2009, this study assesses the frequency with which runaway and homeless youth seek sexual health information via the Internet, and assesses which youth are more likely to engage in seeking health information from online sources. Drawing from Andersen’s (1968) health behavior model and Pescosolido’s (1992) network episode model, we develop and refine a model for seeking online sexual health information among homeless youth. Rather than testing the predicative strength of a given model, our aim is to identify and explore conceptually driven correlates that may shed light on the characteristics associated with these help seeking behaviors among homeless youth. Analyses using multivariate logistic regression models reveal that among the sample of youth, females and gay males most frequently seek sexual health information online. We demonstrate the structure of social network ties (e.g., connection with parents) and the content of interactions (e.g., e-mail forwards of health information) across ties are critical correlates of online sexual health information seeking. Results show a continued connection with parents via the Internet is significantly associated with youth seeking HIV or STI information. Similarly for content of interactions, more youth who were sent health information online also reported seeking HIV information and HIV-testing information. We discuss implications for intervention and practice, focusing on how the Internet may be used for dissemination of sexual health information and as a resource for social workers to link transient, runaway, and homeless youth to care.

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