Complexity of Gender Dependent Contributing Factors on the Number of Lifetime Sexual Partners among Smartphone Application Users: A Path Analysis Model

Abstract Background Smartphone apps provide a more accessible way for people to find friends and potential sexual partners. This study aimed to investigate the effects of contributing factors on the number of lifetime sexual partners and its gender differences among smartphone application users.Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted in the summer of 2017 in Southwest of Iran via an online web-based questionnaire. Out of 414 smartphone users who completed the questionnaire, 169 were excluded due to not using mobile or apps to access sexual information and 245 were finally studied. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 25.0 and Mplus version 6.12. The path analysis was run for both men and women separately. The significant level was considered to be < 0.05 in all analysis. In addition, goodness of fit models were used by determining several indices.Results For both genders, the most effective variables on the number of lifetime sexual partners was the attitude toward the premarital relationship and more permissive attitude was accompanied with more number of sexual partner. Other similar contributing factors in both genders were calling by the Internet, duration of the Internet usage, marital relationship, employment status, birth place, emotional instability, and openness to experience personality. Intimacy with parents was another effective factor, which was only effective for females.Conclusion Due to the necessity of using smartphones, pre-puberty training and informing about the potential risks of the virtual environment should be considered. In this way, the role of parents should not be ignored.