Dating App Use and Sexual Risk: Understanding the Associations between Casual Sex Motivation, Number of Sexual Partners, and STI Diagnoses.

Objective : This study focused on casual sex motivation to explore why some users tend to have more sexual partners and are more likely to take risks in sexual practices, thereby raising their chances of contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Methods : We recruited Chinese heterosexual dating app users ( N  = 582) online to investigate the serial mediation model. Results : Casual sex motivation for dating app use was not directly related to the diagnoses of STIs. Number of sexual partners and frequency of risky sexual behavior serially mediated the relationship between casual sex motivation and STI diagnoses. Conclusions : Using dating apps for casual sex motivation is not necessarily associated with higher incidences of STIs, provided that users do not engage in risky sexual practices.