College of Behavioral & Social Sciences
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The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations..
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Item WHAT IS BEAUTIFUL IS SAFE: PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENSS AND PERCEPTIONS OF STI RISK AMONG MEN WHO HAVE SEX WITH MEN(2018) Sarno, Elissa Louise; Mohr, Jonathan J; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Men who have sex with men (MSM) are the group most severely impacted by HIV in the United States (CDC, 2015). Many MSM, however, still engage in sex without condoms (Smith, Herbst, Zhang, & Rose, 2015). One factor influencing a lack of condom use among MSM may be an assumption of low risk of contracting HIV or another STI from physically attractive partners. This assumption may be particularly dangerous for MSM who use geosocial networking applications (GSN) to find sexual partners. Previous researchers have suggested that this assumption could be based on two theoretical mechanisms: implicit personality theory and motivated reasoning. The present study tested two hypothesized models of the associations between physical attractiveness, perceived HIV/STI risk, and condom use intentions, based on these proposed theories. Participants were 197 MSM who completed an online survey in which they viewed photos of physically attractive and unattractive men and responded to items on perception of positive partner personality characteristics, intention to have sex with the partner, perceived risk for HIV/STIs, and condom use intentions. Results supported both theories. Specifically, physical attractiveness was negatively associated with perceived risk for HIV/STIs and condom use intentions, and these relations were mediated by intentions to have sex and positive partner personality. Implications of these findings for further research and practice are discussed.Item Affect and Condom Use in a Daily Diary Study of Men Who Have Sex with Men(2014) Sarno, Elissa Louise; Mohr, Jonathan J; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Men who have sex with men (MSM) are disproportionally affected by HIV. Although some theoretical models created to explain why individuals engage in risky sexual behavior contain an affective component, there has been relatively little focus on the influence of affect on sexual risk-taking. The goal of this study is to investigate the relationship between affect and condom use in men who have sex with men (MSM) in an archival dataset from a survey of users of a popular sex-oriented website. Multilevel modeling was used to analyze daily diary data from 2,871 MSM. At the within-person level, positive affect was positively related to risk-taking, whereas negative affect was negatively related to risk-taking. However, these results were qualified by interactions of trait affect and relationship to sex partner. These findings suggest that interventions focused on emotional regulation may have the potential to reduce sexual risk taking among MSM.