ArticlePloS one2016
The Impacts of Using Smartphone Dating Applications on Sexual Risk Behaviours in College Students in Hong Kong.
Article in PloS one, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Relationship Between Alcohol Consumption and Risky Sexual Behaviors Among Adolescents and Young Adults: A Meta-Analysis.International journal of public health · 2023Pooled it
- Dating Apps and Their Sociodemographic and Psychosocial Correlates: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Pooled it
- Effectiveness of a Peer-Led Web-Based Intervention to Improve General Self-Efficacy in Using Dating Apps Among Young Adults: Randomized Clustered Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Trial
- Dating Sites and Mobile Applications Usage in Patients of Sexually Transmitted Infections Attending a Tertiary Care Centre in North India.Indian dermatology online journal · 2025Article
- Self-regulatory Sex Motives Scale in Online Dating: Exploratory Factor Analysis and Internal Consistency.Violence against women · 2025Article
- Relations of problematic online dating app use with mental and sexual health: a cross-sectional study in Swiss university students.BMJ public health · 2025Article
- Ehealth interactive intervention in promoting safer sex among men who have sex with men.NPJ digital medicine · 2024Article
- The Impact of Dating Applications on Adolescent Development: A Psychological Perspective.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Informal sexual relationship-associated factors among young adult smartphone users in South of Iran: a cross-sectional study.BMC psychology · 2023Article
- Seroprevalence and risk factors for Kaposi's Sarcoma associated herpesvirus among men who have sex with men in Shanghai, China.BMC infectious diseases · 2023Article
- Dating App Use and Sexual Risk: Understanding the Associations between Casual Sex Motivation, Number of Sexual Partners, and STI Diagnoses.International journal of sexual health : official journal of the World Association for Sexual Health · 2023Article
- Predictors of Revictimization in Online Dating.Journal of interpersonal violence · 2022Article
- The Mediation Effect of Attitudes for the Association between Thoughts and the Use of Condoms in a Mobile-App Environment: From Thought to Intention.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- The Effects of Internet Exposure on Sexual Risk Behavior Among Sexually Experienced Male College Students in China: Cross-sectional Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2022Article
- Knowledge difference of sexually transmitted infections between Hong Kong undergraduates from local and international secondary schools: A cross-sectional study.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- "What Are You Looking For?" Investigating the Association Between Dating App Use and Sexual Risk Behaviors.Sexual medicine · 2021Article
- Associations Between Methods of Meeting Sexual Partners and Sexual Practices Among Heterosexuals: Cross-sectional Study in Melbourne, Australia.JMIR formative research · 2021Article
- Cigarette Smoking and Dating App Use: Findings from a Survey in a Sample of Adults in Italy.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2021Article
- Motivations, dating app relationships, unintended consequences and change in sexual behaviour in dating app users at an Australian music festival.Harm reduction journal · 2021Article
- Justified Suspicion: Symptomatic Syphilitic Alopecia in a Patient with Well-Controlled HIV.Case reports in infectious diseases · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Dating applications (apps) on smartphones have become increasingly popular. The aim of this study was to explore the association between the use of dating apps and risky sexual behaviours. Data were collected in four university campuses in Hong Kong. Subjects completed a structured questionnaire asking about the use of dating apps, sexual behaviours, and sociodemographics. Multiple linear and logistics regressions were used to explore factors associated with sexual risk behaviours. Six hundred sixty-six subjects were included in the data analysis. Factors associated with having unprotected sexual intercourse with more lifetime sexual partners included use of dating apps (β = 0.93, p<0.01), having one's first sexual intercourse before 16 years of age (β = 1.74, p<0.01), being older (β = 0.4, p<0.01), currently being in a relationship (= 0.69, p<0.05), having a monthly income at least HKD$5,000 (β = 1.34, p<0.01), being a current smoker (β = 1.52, p<0.01), and being a current drinker (β = 0.7, p<0.01). The results of a multiple logistic regression analysis found that users of dating apps (adjust odds ratio: 0.52, p<0.05) and current drinkers (adjust odds ratio: 0.40, p<0.01) were less likely to have consistent condom use. Users of dating apps (adjust odds ratio: 1.93, p<0.05), bisexual/homosexual subjects (adjust odds ratio: 2.57, p<0.01) and female subjects (adjust odds ratio: 2.00, p<0.05) were more likely not to have used condoms the last time they had sexual intercourse. The present study found a robust association between using dating apps and sexual risk behaviours, suggesting that app users had greater sexual risks. Interventions that can target app users so that they can stay safe when seeking sexual partners through dating apps should be developed.
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