Skip to main content

Table 2 Characteristics of 1781 sexual partners and partnerships of 577 men who have sex with men, by means of how the participant established the partnership, Amsterdam, 2008-9

From: Does online dating lead to higher sexual risk behaviour? A cross-sectional study among MSM in Amsterdam, the Netherlands

 

Total

Online acquired partnerships

Offline acquired partnerships

P valueb

n(%)e

n(%)e

n(%)e

n(%)e

N

1781

878

903

 

Demographicsa

    

Median age of partner in years (IQR)

34 (28–40)

34 (28–40)

34 (28–39)

0.546

Age of partner in years categorised

   

0.148

  < 30

540 (30.5 %)

275 (31.5 %)

265 (29.6 %)

 

 30–34

371 (21.0 %)

174 (19.9 %)

197 (22.0 %)

 

 35–39

392 (22.2 %)

179 (20.5 %)

213 (23.8 %)

 

  ≥ 40

466 (26.3 %)

246 (28.2 %)

220 (24.6 %)

 

Median age difference in years participant - partner (IQR)c

4 (−2 to 10)

3 (−3 to 10)

4 (−2 to 10)

0.013

Age difference participant - partner, categorised

   

0.137

 Partner >5 years older than participant

279 (15.8 %)

151 (17.3 %)

128 (14.3 %)

 

 Partner and participant differ ≤5 years

767 (43.4 %)

375 (42.9 %)

392 (43.8 %)

 

 Partner is >5 years younger than participant

723 (40.9 %)

348 (39.8 %)

375 (41.9 %)

 

Ethnic group partner

   

<0.001

 Dutch

974 (57.6 %)

520 (61.3 %)

454 (54.0 %)

 

 Western, non-Dutch

323 (19.1 %)

127 (15.0 %)

196 (23.3 %)

 

 Non-western

393 (23.3 %)

202 (23.8 %)

191 (22.7 %)

 

Concordance between ethnic group of participant - partner

   

0.025

 Concordant ethnicity

767 (43.1 %)

399 (45.4 %)

368 (40.8 %)

 

 Different ethnicity

1014 (56.9 %)

479 (54.6 %)

535 (59.3 %)

 

Concordance in life styles participant - partner

   

0.353

 No difference in life styles

703 (39.5 %)

338 (38.5 %)

365 (40.4 %)

 

 Differences in life styles

1078 (60.5 %)

540 (61.5 %)

538 (59.6 %)

 

HIV status partner

    

Perceived HIV status of partner

   

<0.001

 HIV-negative

715 (40.2 %)

388 (44.2 %)

327 (36.2 %)

 

 HIV-positive

270 (15.2 %)

151 (17.2 %)

119 (13.2 %)

 

 Unaware

796 (44.7 %)

339 (38.6 %)

457 (50.6 %)

 

Perceived HIV concordance participant - partner

   

<0.001

 Same HIV status

789 (44.3 %)

430 (49.0 %)

359 (39.8 %)

 

 Different HIV status

135 (7.6 %)

72 (8.2 %)

63 (7.0 %)

 

 HIV status of participant or partner unknown

857 (48.1 %)

376 (42.8 %)

481 (53.3 %)

 

Does partner know HIV status of participant?

   

<0.001

 No

201 (11.3 %)

101 (11.5 %)

100 (11.1 %)

 

 Yes

585 (32.9 %)

340 (38.8 %)

245 (27.2 %)

 

 Possibly

993 (55.8 %)

436 (49.7 %)

557 (61.8 %)

 

Sexual behaviour

    

Partnership type

   

<0.001

 Known partner

1137 (65.9 %)

661 (77.7 %)

476 (54.4 %)

 

 Anonymous partner

589 (34.1 %)

190 (22.3 %)

399 (45.6 %)

 

Sex frequency with partnerd

   

<0.001

 Once

961 (54.0 %)

431 (49.1 %)

530 (58.7 %)

 

 2–5 times

624 (35.1 %)

344 (39.2 %)

280 (31.0 %)

 

 5–10 times

129 (7.3 %)

74 (8.4 %)

55 (6.1 %)

 

  > 10 times

66 (3.7 %)

28 (3.2 %)

38 (4.2 %)

 

UAI

   

0.082

 No

1339 (75.2 %)

646 (73.6 %)

693 (76.7 %)

 

 Yes

442 (24.8 %)

232 (26.4 %)

210 (23.3 %)

 

Group sex with partner

   

0.003

 No

1518 (85.3 %)

771 (87.9 %)

747 (82.7 %)

 

 Yes

262 (14.5 %)

106 (12.1 %)

156 (17.3 %)

 

Paid sex with partner

   

0.055

 No

1723 (96.9 %)

841 (96.0 %)

882 (97.7 %)

 

 Yes

56 (3.2 %)

35 (4.0 %)

21 (2.3 %)

 

Sex-related substance use in partnership

    

Any sex-related substance use

   

<0.001

 No

633 (35.5 %)

344 (39.2 %)

289 (32.0 %)

 

 Yes

1148 (64.5 %)

534 (60.8 %)

614 (68.0 %)

 

Sex-related alcohol use

   

<0.001

 No

1143 (64.2 %)

627 (71.4 %)

516 (57.1 %)

 

 Yes

638 (35.8 %)

251 (28.6 %)

387 (42.9 %)

 

Sex-related use of 2 or more substances other than alcohol

   

0.576

 No

1467 (82.4 %)

719 (82.0 %)

748 (82.8 %)

 

 Yes

313 (17.6 %)

158 (18.0 %)

155 (17.2 %)

 
  1. Abbreviations: UAI unprotected anal intercourse, IQR interquartile range, MSM men who have sex with men
  2. aData were missing for partner’s age: online (4), offline (8); age difference: online (4), offline (8); partner’s ethnicity: online (29), offline (62); partnership type: online (27), offline (28); whether partner knows HIV status of participant: online (1), offline (1); sex frequency with partner: online (1); group sex: online (1); paid sex: online (2); use of 2 or more drugs during sex: online (1)
  3. bP was calculated using logistic regression accounting for clustered observations
  4. cAge difference was calculated by subtracting the age of the partner from the age of the participant
  5. dThe questionnaire stated overlapping categories
  6. eUnless specified otherwise