My three committee members after my thesis defense

Author: Matthew Hayhurst | Major: Sociology | Semester: Spring 2024

Recent data has shown that men who have sex with men account for up to two-thirds of new HIV diagnoses each year in the United States. With the advent of Internet-based geosocial networking applications (GSNAs), dating and partner seeking behaviors amongst queer individuals are changing. My project used survey data collected through the Men’s Sexual Health Survey, which was conducted by Mance E. Buttram, PhD, from the Department of Health, Human Performance, and Recreation here at the University of Arkansas.

My project primarily looked at the following outcome variables: recent application usage (defined as usage in the six months preceding the survey), use frequency, a respondent’s number of active profiles, and selected motivations from Sumter’s Tinder Motivation Scale. I looked at variables such as psychosocial health, education level, and primary partnership to better understand what predicted the outcome variables. Sumter’s Tinder Motivation Scale was used to better understand a respondent’s specific identified motivations for using applications (such as loneliness, sex, and trading nude pictures).

The central finding of our study was that poorer psychosocial health and having a higher number of male partners were associated with recent application usage, a higher frequency of application usage, and a higher number of active profiles identified by the respondent. Having a primary partner predicted a lower frequency of usage and a lower number of active profiles, and those respondents were less likely to have used an application recently. Interestingly, those with a primary partner who used application were more likely to identify anonymity as a motivator for using applications.

This project began by simply looking online at professor biographies to find professors who did work that interested me. Dr. Buttram had a very interesting research profile that involved a lot of work with queer individuals, so I reached out to him through email, and we set up a meeting. He was developing the survey at the time and invited me to participate in the development of the survey and even add my own measures for variables that interested me. This was a particularly fruitful experience for me because I learned how to write survey questions and use statistically validated scales to measure specific variables, a skill that is fundamental in quantitative epidemiology.

Once I began working with Dr. Buttram, I started searching for a primary mentor. I reached out to Mindy Bradley, PhD, due to her reputation as a great mentor and her work with the victimization of bisexual and queer individuals. I reached out to her through email, and she quickly responded with an eagerness to mentor me and work on the project. I had never met her before the first meeting but knew she would be a great mentor from the moment I met her. We met weekly or bi-weekly throughout my senior year to work through statistical analyses, edit my writing samples, and talk through career goals and opportunities.

I think I had a unique experience in that all three of my thesis committee members worked closely with me and mentored me throughout the project. I had taken Rocio Paez- Ritter, PhD, for Social Research early on in my undergraduate career at the University of Arkansas. Like Mindy, Dr. Ritter is committed to the development of her students, and I knew that she would be a great fit for my committee. She was, of course, happy to help and served as a tremendous resource throughout the year. It was important to me that I carefully selected who was on my committee so that it was a fruitful experience for us all.

Procrastination was possibly my biggest challenge while working on the project, especially over the course of my senior year. I juggled a lot, especially in the Fall semester of senior year: challenging classes (I am looking at you, biochemistry!), working, family issues, personal illness, and more. I realized at the end of that semester that it is simply impossible to do everything, and I made a commitment to only take on things that either filled my cup from a passion perspective or moved me towards my goals. This project did both, and I was able to dedicate substantially more time to the project in the Spring!

I was able to complete everything with ample time, which included submitting an abstract for the National LGBTQ Health Conference hosted bi-annually at Emory University. I initially applied for a poster presentation but was delighted to find out that I had actually been accepted to give an oral presentation at the conference. I will be traveling to Atlanta in August to deliver the presentation, and I am tremendously thankful to the Honors College for the grant funds that helped fund my registration fee and travel expenses.

You may ask, what’s next? In terms of the project, I am working on final edits to the manuscript in hopes of publication. The survey looked at a lot of variables other than dating application usage (PrEP usage, HIV risk, etc.) and Dr. Buttram has so graciously included me on manuscript submissions as co-author on other papers that have been generated using the survey data. On a personal level, working on this project helped realize my passion for research and epidemiology, and I plan on attending medical school in hopes of being a clinician-scientist. I can’t yet reveal my next career steps, but I will be moving to DC within the next eight weeks to spend my gap years working with an expert in the field of cancer epidemiology!

I want to extend my sincerest gratitude to the Honors College as well as my thesis committee for not only their assistance with this project, but in their steadfast mentorship and commitment to my development as a researcher!