BACKGROUND: Social media use is ubiquitous, permeating nearly all populations globally, including men who have sex with men (MSM), despite there being mixed impacts to its use. To fill this gap, we sought to typologize social media usage, mental health, and sleep health among MSM in Paris, France, a city with a large LGBTQIA + community and high social media usage.
METHODS: Participants were recruited using broadcast advertisements on a popular geosocial networking application in Paris in October 2016. Consenting participants completed a self-administered survey online (French or English) that assessed: sleep characteristics; mental health; and social media use behaviors. We conducted a Latent Class Analysis (LCA) to characterize the number of distinct latent classes across the three primary constructs of interest.
RESULTS: A total of 580 participants completed the survey and 539 (92.9%) provided complete data for the LCA. The four-class model fit our data best; thus, we assigned participants to one of four distinct latent classes: 1) MSM using social media for sex with stress and poor sleep (n = 97), 2) MSM using social media generally with good mental and sleep health (n = 172), 3) MSM using social media for sex with good mental and sleep health (n = 147), and 4) MSM using social media for sex with distress and poor sleep (n = 123).
CONCLUSION: Findings from this work may inform culturally-tailored interventions, public health messaging, and policy efforts to promote mental, behavioral, and digital health among MSM in France and beyond, while identifying opportunities to leverage digital platforms for sleep and mental health in digital communities.
Hookups, hashtags, and health: A latent class analysis of social media, mental health and sleep among MSM in Paris, France
SSM - Mental Health, 9, 100615. doi: 10.1016/j.ssmmh.2026.100615.