The World Health Organization (WHO) drew attention in May to a sharp increase in the number of sexually transmitted infections (STDs) in many parts of the worldwith more than one million new cases being recorded daily.
The problem has been deemed particularly acute in the US, which has one of the highest prevalences of STDs in the developed world. Since 2000, chlamydia cases have doubled and gonorrhea cases have increased by 40% in the same time period. Most amazingly, syphilis cases increased by 400%. These incidents were largely recorded among young people aged 20 to 34.
The rise of dating apps during this time has only served to exacerbate this problem, and a new study has shown how this happened.
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How dating apps can help spread STDs
The Internet has created all kinds of new ways to help people try and develop new romantic relationships over the past 25 years. While early versions of dating sites were considered the preserve of the desperate and lonely, that all changed with the widespread adoption of smartphones in the early 2010s and the dating apps that sprang up soon after, such as Tinder, Bumble, OKCupid, Grindr and others. The average person suddenly had multiple channels to meet new people.
A new study published in Limits in Reproductive Health shows how the use of such apps can facilitate the spread of STDs.
The study
In 2022, Dr Jaquetta Reeves, assistant professor in the College of Nursing and Health Innovation at the University of Texas at Arlington, and her colleagues used an anonymous online questionnaire to interview 122 young adult students between the ages of 19 and 35. The students were mostly from North Texas.
Students were asked if they had ever used a dating app and then asked to provide information about their sexual behavior. This information included their total number of sexual partners, how they used campus sexual health clinics, any previous STDs, and whether they had unprotected sex. They were also asked if they had met sexual partners on dating apps, if they were in a committed or open relationship, or if they had “friends with benefits”.
Dating app use was more common among white (47%) than black (12%) students, more common among male (64%) than female (33%), and more common among heterosexual (86%) than what about those who identified as gay or bisexual (14%).
What did it show?
The study showed differences between students who used the apps and those who never used them:
- Those who admitted to having more than one sexual partner during the previous year were more than twice as likely to use a dating app compared to those who had only one partner.
- Participants who reported having sex with alcohol were about 1.5 times more likely to use an app.
- Those whose first intercourse took place between the ages of 16 and 19 were 1.5 times more likely to use an app than those whose first intercourse came later.
- Students who had had an STD test at their campus clinic were nearly 2 times more likely to use an app.
- Students who tested positive for HIV were 33% more likely to use an app.
What does this mean?
Reeves and her colleagues concluded that there was a significant positive association between the use of dating apps and engaging in risky sexual behaviors among students who used them. But which is the chicken and which is the egg?
In all likelihood, the causality between risky sexual behaviors and dating app use likely flows both ways. It’s easy to find casual partners on dating apps, which can lead to risky behaviors like unprotected sex. On the other hand, people who are already involved in risky sexual activities may use dating apps to find like-minded people.
Final thoughts
The conclusions drawn by Reeves are quite clear:
“The study highlights a significant relationship between dating app use and condomless sexual activity among college students. University health clinics play a critical role in providing sexual health services and can enhance their impact by expanding access to testing, contraception and inclusive, positive sex education. Future research should investigate the long-term effects of dating app use on sexual health and evaluate the effectiveness of app-based interventions to promote safer sexual practices.”
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