Prior research with partnered gay men in Australia noted that almost half of the men reported some discomfort discussing with their main partner about sex that occurred outside of the relationship Prestage et al. Couples recent adherence to their sexual agreements was also associated with relationship length. Specifically, more breaks were reported by couples who had been together less than 6 months and among those who had been together between 2 and 5 years.

The couples who just started their relationship may have not had the opportunity to fully discuss the details of their agreements, including what behaviors may or may not be allowed to occur. For the couples who have been together for more than 2 years but less than 5 years, some couples may broken their agreement due to myriad of reasons including not having their sexual needs met within the relationship to spur-of-the-moment, unplanned situational contexts.

Previous studies have reported that often the reasons why men break their sexual agreements are situational in nature Hoff et al. However, other research has noted that partnered gay men who reported having higher levels of certain relationship characteristics, such as trust, communication, commitment, and social support were less likely to report breaking their agreement with their main partners Gomez et al.

Additional research, such as individual- and couple-level qualitative interviews, would provide a better understanding about how and which motivational and situational factors e. The use of a cross-sectional study design with a convenience sample precludes us from making causal inferences and generalizing our findings to all U. Although we did not collect identifying information, participation, social desirability, and recall biases may have influenced participants to inaccurately report information about their relationships.

Additionally, participants may have completed the survey with their main partners, despite our request for them to complete it independently and separately, and therefore potentially causing some bias. These biases, if present, may have inflated the number of couples who established and adhered to an agreement.

Some participants may have also calculated when their relationship began differently e. To address these potential limitations, future Internet-based studies with gay male couples could require each partner to schedule an online video-based appointment to monitor the participant while he completes the questionnaire.

The main strengths of our study include the large geographically diverse sample size of Internet-using gay male couples, the use of paid targeted social media advertisements to capture a large sample size in a short period of time, the use of dyadic data, and ascertaining how aspects of agreements vary by relationship length. Future studies that aim to develop interventions for gay male couples should also consider the importance of communication about sexual health and whether couples use other prevention methods in addition to a sexual agreement.

These advances in research will help develop future HIV prevention programs for gay male couples.

Gay Men’s Relationships: 10 Ways They Differ From Straight Relationships | HuffPost

National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. AIDS Care. Author manuscript; available in PMC Sep 1. Jason W. Author information Copyright and License information Disclaimer. Correspondence to: Mitchell, M.

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Mean SD Individual age [range: Discussion Findings from our study describe how aspects of sexual agreements differ by relationship length. Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research The use of a cross-sectional study design with a convenience sample precludes us from making causal inferences and generalizing our findings to all U.

Same-sex relationship

Risks worth taking: Safety agreements among discordant gay couples. The couple as context: Latino gay male couples and HIV. Couples-focused behavioral interventions for prevention of HIV: Systematic review of the state of evidence. AIDS and Behavior. Assessing sexual risk behaviour of young gay men in primary relationships: Behavioral and cognitive barriers to safer sex between men in steady relationships: Advantages, gaps and future directions.

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Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Sexual risk behaviour among gay men in a relationship. Sexual agreements in the partnerships of Internet-using men who have sex with men. Relationship dynamics as predictors of broken agreements about outside sexual partners: Implications for HIV prevention among gay couples. PLoS One. Public Health Report. The effectiveness of individual-, group-, and community-level HIV behavioral risk-reduction interventions for adult men who have sex with men.

LGBT A-Z (Glossary)

American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Sexual agreements among gay male couples. Archives of Sexual Behavior. Relationship characteristics and motivations behind agreements among gay male couples: Differences by agreement type and couple serostatus. Serostatus differences and agreements about sex with outside partners among gay male couples.

Relationship characteristics associated with sexual risk behavior among MSM in committed relationships. Sustaining safer sex: A longitudinal study of a sample of homosexual men. Sexual negotiation in the AIDS era: Negotiated safety revisited. Extradyadic sex and gay male couples: Comparing monogamous and nonmonogamous relationships. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services. Monogamy of the heart: Extradyadic sex and gay male couples. Journal of Gay and Lesbian Social Services. Journal of Sex Research. Dykstra et al. Moreover, an accurate assessment of the violence and the associated risks should be required in considering couple violence as a treatment option; this would enable the provision of the most suitable assistance for the couple in terms of defining or redefining problems, which can be treated through individual treatment plans Borne et al.

Couples therapy can provide a safe space where relationships can be discussed and negotiated Gilbert et al. On the other hand, couples therapy can be self-defeating if one or both of the partners presents issues that would best be previously acknowledged through individual counseling Borne et al. The effectiveness of couple therapy increased when combined with either individual or group therapy Ristock and Timbang, ; Gilbert et al. Coleman highlighted that the optimal treatment for perpetrators is group therapy combined with long-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy or psychoanalysis.

Group therapy made it possible to experience support and confrontation in a safe space, thereby avoiding isolation—a common consequence of victimization. The peer group assisted individuals with reliability by challenging unhealthy conduct and encouraging healthy behaviors. On the other hand, perpetrators too had the opportunity to learn new cognitive and behavioral strategies for managing their abusive impulses and express their emotions in a functional and structured manner Buttell and Cannon, Occasionally, in case patients refuse to participate in group therapy, group therapy activities can be adapted to individual cases.

Coleman listed some specific techniques: Studies showed that individual mental health counseling can result in good outcomes for SSIPV victims. Couple counseling with victim and abuser was found to be less effective because victims may fear repercussions from the information given during the session such as details of the victimization Buford et al.

In spite of these findings, research has indicated that psychology graduate students and clinicians have the inclination to suggest couples counseling instead of individual counseling for LGB IPV victims more often than for different-gender victims Wise and Bowman, ; Poorman et al. These approaches allowed victims to gradually feel more trustful toward therapists and thus become aware of their status, the suffered abuse, and the associated consequences to it Dietz, Moreover, it encourages therapists to enable victims to direct the session, thereby learning, in this manner, how to effectively direct their lives.

This fact granted victims to gain and adopt useful resources to bring an end to the abusive condition and obtain independence from the partner. In the United States, it is not unusual for abusers to participate in psycho-educative programs finalized to reduce the risk of committing violence on partners in the future. Both approaches do not consider the peculiarities of LGB couples and the role played by factors such as homophobia Buttell and Cannon, Moreover, the Duluth model, based on the patriarchal ideology, was originally designed just for heterosexual couples; however, it was subsequently applied to LGB perpetrators although in the United States the groups, during the treatment, were often separated according to sexual orientation, even if the programs were mostly the same for both groups Price and Rosenbaum, ; Buttell and Cannon, This feminist psycho-educational approach is focused on re-education toward the development of more adaptive attitudes, improving communication proficiency, and ultimately eliminating violent behaviors Buttell and Cannon, To the best of our knowledge, there are no studies to test the impact of such treatment on the LGB population Stith et al.

Buttell and Cannon stated that scholars applying a post-structuralist feminist framework to IPV argued that a one-size-fits-all treatment model for IPV perpetrators e. In their opinion, treatment interventions should address issues of sexism, homophobia, racism, and classism in order to address the ways society materially disadvantages some while privileging others Buttell and Cannon, Cannon et al. The results highlight that the most common approach to LGB batterers was a one-to-one approach instead of a group therapy, due to the difficulties for LGB people to express openly express themselves in heterosexual groups, two programs were projected for the LGB population.

Pierre, ; Cannon et al. Some interventions were addressed to a specific ethnic group, such as Asians Chung and Lee, ; Lee and Utarti, ; Cheung et al. Moreover, IPV services where more accessible in urban centers where the LGB community was well developed and rooted than in rural areas Jeffries and Kay, ; Ford et al. Because of the impact of homophobia, homosexual and bisexual people may have a significantly more difficult time finding and receiving appropriate help than heterosexual ones, particularly when other variables such as income, ethnicity, and immigration status were held constant Ard and Makadon, ; Barata et al.

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual victims of IPV access treatments through a wide range of help-giving resources, which can be distinguished into informal family, friends, acquaintances and formal resources support groups, LGB community agencies, hotlines and shelters for IPV victims, medical health-care providers, and the criminal justice system. LGB victims of IPV were prone to seek help from informal resources particularly friends Scherzer, ; Merrill and Wolfe, ; Turell, , although there was a rather high percentage of people who turned to health care providers and family Scherzer, ; Merrill and Wolfe, ; Turell, ; on the contrary, organizations specifically designed with the purpose of addressing IPV seemed to have the lowest utilization rates Lanzerotti, In terms of the gender of the victim, it emerged that lesbian women had the tendency to seek help from all types of resources equally, while gay men were more prone to turn to the police to report victimizations Cornell-Swanson and Turell, ; Senn and St.

McClennen et al. These findings are consistent with Seelau and Seelau that considers perpetrators as more aggressive if the victim was a woman instead of a man. Male perpetrators were judged more blame-worthy than female perpetrators. Overall, male—female IPV was considered more dangerous than female—male, male—male, or female—female abuse. Significantly, the gender of the survivor, not sexual identity, was the most prominent factor in predicting witness response.

In accordance with this, Arnocky and Vaillancourt work suggested that men, regardless of sexual identity, were less likely to recognize that they were being abused than women. Pierre, ; Hancock et al. However, a growing body of empirical research does exist, thereby offering important observations and considerations regarding LGB IPV.

Previous studies primarily examined the prevalence of IPV in the homosexual and bisexual population Turell, ; Messinger, ; Barrett and St. Pierre, ; Breiding et al.

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They can be classified into counseling interventions, particularly for victims Dietz, ; Dixon and Peterman, ; Poorman et al. Despite the myth that IPV is only an issue in heterosexual relationships, its occurrence among LGB couples was demonstrated to be comparable to or higher than heterosexual cases Messinger, ; Kelley et al. While similarities between heterosexual and LGB IPV such as general patterns, types, outcomes, cycle of violence and use of substances were found McLaughlin and Rozee, ; Buford et al.

IPV victims can be reluctant in seeking assistance, fearing discrimination Giorgio, ; Helfrich and Simpson, ; Carvalho et al. Rarely a solution was offered to help LGB people in accessing treatment for IPV, and authors recommended modifications to standard treatments or programs Calton et al. Studies showed that services and shelters were often unprepared to support IPV homosexual and bisexual victims Buford et al. In the United States, many emergency departments, shelters, agencies, and clinics had IPV advocacy programs; most of these programs historically failed in responding adequately to abuse in LGB groups Brown and Groscup, ; Ford et al.

The majority of the researches takes into consideration only North American services and programs existing in urban centers, while rural areas or other countries were not investigated Jeffries and Kay, ; Ford et al.