Health Related Aspects of Sexual Behaviour Among Internet Daters in Slovenia

• Published in: Zdravstveno varstvo Vol. 52; no. 4; p. 255
• Main Authors: Kogovsek, Tina, Kuhar, Roman, Svab, Alenka
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Slovenian
• Published: Ljubljana Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Slovenia 01-12-2013
• Subjects: Condoms; Dating services; Gender; Internet; Sexual behavior
• ISSN: 0351-0026; 1854-2476
• DOI: 10.2478/sjph-2013-0026

Background: The article presents the results of the first sociological study in Slovenia on sexual behaviour of internet daters, with a particular focus on health-related aspects of sexual behaviour. Methods: The sample consists of people who use (have used) Internet dating services. Snow-ball sampling was done through e-mail alerts and by posting banners on Internet dating sites. The data were collected in January and February 2007. The final sample consists of 1349 respondents. Results: The majority of our respondents had either no (44.2%) or few (1 to 5 - 48%) sexual contacts with persons they got to know over the internet. Depending on their sexual orientation, 15 to 40% of men had sex on the first date compared to 7 to 18% of women. One third of heterosexual men and women did not use a condom during their first sexual intercourse with the last person met online. Homosexual men are far more likely to use condoms, as only 17% stated that they did not use a condom, in comparison with heterosexual and bisexual men. Conclusions: Results of the survey show that the time that passes between first on-line contact and first sexual intercourse represents an important indicator of potentially risky sexual behaviour as far as sexual health is concerned. Our data show that this is the case especially for bisexual males. Data on condom use show that the "AIDS era" left a strong impact on the population of homosexual men, who far more often use a condom in comparison with heterosexual and bisexual respondents.