The multiple dimensions of sexual behavior as risk factor for sexually transmitted disease: the sexually experienced are not necessarily sexually active
Aral, S.O.; Cates, W.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases 16(4): 173-177
1989
ISSN/ISBN: 0148-5717 PMID: 2595514 DOI: 10.1097/00007435-198910000-00003Document Number: 335262
Sexual behavior is a crucial risk factor for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), but no national data exist to define a true population at risk. Instead, limited information describes sexual behavior in specific population groups (adolescents, women in their twenties) only in terms of a single dimension: sexual experience. To address the multiple dimensions of sexual behavior, we analyzed data collected from a nationally representative sample of reproductive age women in the 1982 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). We found 86% of women aged 15-44 to be sexually experienced. Teenagers are the least experienced (45% and 56% of whites and others, respectively) and the least sexually active of all reproductive women. While sexual experience increases with age, sexual activity shows a curvilinear age pattern: it increases up to age 35 and decreases slightly from age 35 to 44. Teenagers report the least consistent sexual activity (less than 25%) and the highest level of abstention (38% and 31% for whites and others, respectively) following sexual experience. These findings indicate sexual experience as a measure of sexual behavior should be further refined to provide a more accurate estimate of the population at risk for STD.