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from Medical Issues
2005 Survey Compares 'Vacation'
Versus 'Home' High Risk Behaviors
July 27, 2006 -
An Archives of Sexual Behavior article published in 2005 surveyed the differences between gay sexual risk-taking while at home compared to when on vacation.
"Sexual Risk Behavior of Men Who Have Sex With Men: Comparison of Behavior at Home and at a Gay Resort," (David Whittier, Janet St. Lawrence, Salvatore Seeley, Archives of Sexual Behavior, Vol. 34, Issue: 1, 2005, pgs. 95+) found a number of differences between risk-taking at home and while at a gay resort.
The researchers conducted online surveys with 551 males, whose median age was 35. The survey attempted to measure several issues, including attitudes about not using condoms and the numbers of sex partners encountered at gay resorts.
They found, among other things:
- 72% reported engaging in anal sex with men during days spent on holiday; 84% reported anal sex during past sixty days at home. Sixty-three percent report anal intercourse in both locations.
- Unprotected Anal Intercourse (UAI) was reported by 37% either at home or on holiday. Of these, 27% engaged in UAI with non-main partners at home; 39% only on holiday; and 34% in both locations.
- Signficantly more participants reported engaging in sex in combination with alcohol, ecstasy, methamphetamine and Ketamine while on holiday than at home.
- Those engaging in UAI with non-main partners on vacation were less likely to practice safer sex "because of AIDS."
- Participants who reported inconsistent condom use with main partners reported more consistent condom use with non-main partners.
The researchers theorized that "behavior that is normative in the home environment may be amplified in the holiday setting. For example, norms of masculine sexual expression, including risk taking, may lead to increases in risky sex between gay men while they are on holiday."
They urge "targeting prevention resources to the riskiest individuals and contexts may enable a parsimonious and cost-effective approach to STI prevention."
(This research project was supported in part by an appointment to the Research Participation Program sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education through an agreement with the Department of Energy and the CDC.)
Additional Reading: Medical Issues.
Updated: 8 February 2008
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