Sexual Risk Behavior of Men Who have Sex with Men: Comparison of Behavior at Home and at a Gay Resort

This study compared sexual behavior of gay and bisexual men (N = 551) while at their primary residence to their behavior while vacationing at a gay resort community. Participants reported behavior for the days they spent in the resort and for their last 60 days in their home residences. Overall, 11 times more non-main partners were reported for unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) per day while in the resort as for the “at home” period. Regression analysis identified negative attitudes toward condoms, less concern about AIDS, and daily number of non-main, male partners at home with whom UAI occurred as significant predictors of the daily number of non-main male partners with whom holidaymakers engaged in UAI while in the resort area. The results suggest that sexual risk taking by men who have sex with men (MSM) while on holiday may be elevated over that at home and that prevention efforts need to be promoted in gay resorts. Behavioral surveillance research would be helpful in better characterizing the current social contexts of sexual risk taking by MSM. Theory-based studies of the nature of risk-taking and sexual decision-making on “gay holiday” could inform the development of empirically proven and conceptually grounded interventions.