AIDSImpact.com:: - Santa Fe, USA 2011

Abstract #107 - Perceived effects of pornography and high-risk sex among men who have sex with men
Authors: Presenting Author: Dr Derek Smolenski - University of Minnesota
Additional Authors: Dr. Keith Horvath, Dr. Alex Iantaffi, Mr. Jeremy Grey, Dr. Michael Wilkerson, Dr. Simon Rosser,
Aim: The current study presents findings from one of the first studies of consumption of sexually-explicit media (SEM) among men who have sex with men (MSM). The major outcome of the study was high-risk sexual behavior, defined in this study as the number of unprotected male intercourse partners (UAIMP). A primary study question relates to how participants perceive SEM to impact their thoughts, attitudes, and sexual behaviors, and how this perceived effect is associated with actual risk behavior. For this presentation, the central hypothesis is that greater perceived benefits from SEM will be associated with a lower frequency of high-risk sexual behavior.
Method / Issue: Data for this study come from a 7-day test-retest reliability study of an instrument to be used in a forthcoming, large-scale survey of gay-themed SEM and HIV risk behavior. Participants for this analysis included 366 self-identified MSM who provided data on a 13-item measure of the perceived cognitive, affective, and behavioral effects of SEM. Each item stem had two 5-point Likert-type response sets, one for the magnitude (1=decreased, 5= increased) and one for the valence (1=negative, 5=positive). Prior work identified a two-factor solution: affective/behavioral (5 items, α=.74, sample item: “How has your use of pornography influenced your frequency of masturbation?”) and cognitive (4 items, α=.74, “How has your use of pornography influenced your understanding of what you like to do sexually?”). Outcome measures included the number of casual male partners in the last 90 days for each of the following behaviors: receptive anal intercourse (2 items – number with and number without condoms) and insertive anal intercourse (2 items, number with and number without condoms). Negative binomial models were used to regress outcome frequencies on the two scale measures.
Results / Comments: Overall, few participants reported perceived negative effects of pornography, which is consistent with recent research in a heterosexual sample. Higher scores on behavioral/affective and cognitive dimensions did not demonstrate an association with the frequency of either protected or unprotected anal intercourse with casual male partners in the last 90 days. One notable exception was that a greater frequency of unprotected receptive anal intercourse was associated with a higher score on the cognitive dimension of the effect of pornography (prevalence rate ratio = 2.21, 95% confidence interval = 1.14, 4.28).
Discussion: The evidence here shows that perceived effects of pornography are largely unassociated with risk behavior. At present, it is not well understood how perception of greater cognitive benefits from pornography would be associated with a higher frequency of risk behavior. Participants who reported risk behavior could have learned more about this behavior from pornography, or, equally plausible, participants reporting risk behavior see their behavior reflected back in the pornography they choose to watch, which serves as a validation. Further work will investigate the potential for effect measure modification by type of pornography used.
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