The current study examined the relevance of relationship functioning to partners’ agreement or consensus about joint effort surrounding COVID-19 prevention. Interdependence theory has been widely used to understand how relationship partners influence health behavior, including how sexual minority male (SMM) couples regulate HIV risk. Couples with better relationship functioning tend to be more successful at negotiating joint (shared) goals and subsequently accomplishing them. The study recruited 134 cis-male, SARS-CoV-2 negative adults in relationships with cis-male partners from phone-based social networking applications. Participants completed an online survey assessing relationship functioning (Perceived Relationship Components Questionnaire), COVID-19 prevention behaviors, and risk perceptions. Partners’ consensus around joint COVID-19 prevention effort was assessed using an adapted version of the Preferences for Sexual Health Outcomes scale. Path analyses indicated that consensus for joint prevention effort predicted social distancing (B = 0.23; p = .001) and the number of other COVID-19 prevention behaviors engaged in (B = 0.17; p = .003) above and beyond perceived risk and relationship functioning. Relationship satisfaction predicted higher levels of consensus for joint COVID-19 prevention effort (B = 0.40; p = .029). Findings suggest that the theoretical foundations of successful HIV prevention interventions that utilize joint goal formation may generalize to the prediction of COVID-19 prevention behavior and may be leveraged to mitigate the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection among SMM in relationships. Interventions that overlook the potential for dyadic regulation of health behavior may miss opportunities to capitalize on shared coping resources and fail to address relational barriers to prevention.

目前的研究检查了关系功能与合作伙伴关于围绕 COVID-19 预防的共同努力达成的协议或共识的相关性。相互依赖理论已被广泛用于了解关系伴侣如何影响健康行为，包括性少数男性 (SMM) 夫妇如何调节 HIV 风险。具有更好关系功能的夫妇往往更成功地协商共同（共同）目标并随后实现这些目标。该研究从基于电话的社交网络应用程序中招募了 134 名 SARS-CoV-2 阴性的顺式男性与顺式男性伴侣关系的成年人。参与者完成了一项评估关系功能（感知关系成分问卷）、COVID-19 预防行为和风险认知的在线调查。使用改编版的性健康结果偏好量表评估了合作伙伴关于联合 COVID-19 预防工作的共识。路径分析表明，联合预防努力的共识预测了社会距离（B  = 0.23；p  = .001）和其他 COVID-19 预防行为的数量（B  = 0.17；p  = .003）超出感知风险和关系功能。关系满意度预测联合 COVID-19 预防工作的共识水平更高（B  = 0.40；p = .029)。研究结果表明，利用联合目标形成的成功 HIV 预防干预的理论基础可以推广到 COVID-19 预防行为的预测，并可以用来降低 SMM 在关系中感染 SARS-CoV-2 的风险。忽视健康行为二元调节潜力的干预措施可能会错失利用共享应对资源的机会，也无法解决预防的相关障碍。