LAUSR

Sexual minority men (SMM) disproportionately experience psychosocial risk factors and comorbid health concerns (e.g., HIV infection) that increase their vulnerability to COVID-19 infection and distress. The current study applied a socioecological approach to the Health Belief model to understand associations among perceived risk, optimistic bias (a perceived lower risk relative to similar others), united action (perceived community capacity for collective action), and COVID-19 behavioral prevention strategies among COVID-19-negative adult cisgender SMM. Participants (n = 859), recruited via a geo-location-based dating application in May 2020, completed an online survey. Results indicated significant interactions between perceived risk and optimistic bias on social distancing (B = -.03, p Public Significance Statement-The health behaviors we engage in may reflect our understanding of our personal health risks. In certain situations, it is also possible that people may choose to engage in health behaviors to prevent others in their community from certain health conditions. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a unique circumstance to understand the latter, since early efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus relied on individuals complying with behavioral prevention strategies (e.g., social distancing, washing hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds). The question of how personal beliefs are associated with engaging in behavioral prevention strategies is particularly important to understand in a certain population, sexual minority men, due to evidence that this population may be at an increased risk of COVID-19 and its related distress. We found that three COVID-19 behavioral prevention strategies (i.e., social distancing, number of COVID-19 preventive precautions, and number of casual sex partners) were shaped by an interaction of three kinds of beliefs: (a) personal beliefs about one's own risk, (b) beliefs about similar others in one's interpersonal group and, (c) beliefs about the ability of one's community to take action. These findings may help to inform how public health efforts can be mobilized to increase engagement in COVID-19 behavioral prevention strategies among sexual minority men. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)