MaxFisher
War Child
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1556/5617739.html
The National Center for Health Statistics Thursday released the government's most comprehensive survey of American sexual practices and reproductive health, delving for the first time into such sensitive areas as the prevalence of oral sex among teenagers and same-sex activity among adults.
Oral sex among teenagers has in recent years become a topic of rampant speculation and little solid data, apart from a 1995 Urban Institute study of adolescent boys. The new statistics confirm that study's findings that oral sex is very much part of the teenage sexual repertory. According to the survey, more than half of all those age 15 to 19 have engaged in oral sex -- including nearly a quarter of those who have never had intercourse.
The data come from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth, a survey of 12,571 men and women age 15 to 44. The survey contractor was the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research.
The institute trained more than 200 female interviewers to collect the data by having the subject answer sensitive questions on a laptop computer, without revealing the answers to the interviewer.
Although the National Center for Health Statistics has periodically conducted the National Survey among women for 32 years, the 2002 version was the first to include both sexes, and to move beyond fertility and child-bearing into broader questions of sexual behavior and sexual orientation.
Among the findings in the "Sexual Behavior and Selected Health Measures" study:
• Men age 30 to 44 have had a median of six to eight sexual partners in their lifetimes; women's median was about four.
• Among men and women age 15 to 44, about two-thirds have had only one sexual partner in the last year. Ten percent of the men and 7 percent of the women have had three or more partners in that time.
• About 4 percent of men and women described themselves as homosexual or bisexual, but in a finding that surprised the researchers, 14 percent of the women age 18 to 29 reported at least one sexual experience with another woman, more than twice the proportion of young men who reported such an experience.
The report offers new information about homosexuality in America. Almost 3 percent of men between 15 and 44 and 4 percent of women reported having a sexual experience with a member of the same sex within the past year. Over their lifetimes, 6 percent of men and 11 percent of women had such experiences. About 1 percent of men and 3 percent of women had had both male and female sexual partners in the previous 12 months.
Nearly 6 percent of all men between 15 and 44 reported having oral sex with another man at some time in their lives, and nearly 4 percent reported having anal sex with another man.
Findings on teens
The new findings on teens and oral sex have been of special interest to health experts.
The proportion of teens who have given or received oral sex was slightly higher than the proportion who have had intercourse, with 55 percent of the boys and 54 percent of the girls having given or received oral sex, while 49 percent of the boys and 53 percent of the girls have had sexual intercourse.
"One thing that surprised me is that we expected, based on anecdotal evidence, that girls might be more likely to give oral sex and boys more likely to receive it, but we didn't find that at all," said Dr. Jennifer Manlove, of Child Trends, which, like Brown's group, released an analysis of the data. "There's more gender equality than we expected."
The government data does not provide any indication of the age at which oral sex first occurred, how often it occurred, or how many partners a teen had had. But the survey found that nearly all teens who have had sexual intercourse have also had oral sex: Among sexually experienced teens, 88 percent of the boys and 83 percent of the girls have had oral sex.
Many of the findings in the government report parallel those of the last large-scale study of American sexual behavior, a 1992 study of 18- to 59-year-olds by the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center.
William Mosher, the lead author of the new study, said it found a new and unexpected increase in lesbian activity.
When asked, "Have you ever had any sexual experience of any kind with any female?" 14 percent of the 18- to 29-year-old women said yes, compared with slightly under 10 percent of the 30- to 44-year-olds.
The study also asked about sexual attraction and sexual orientation. Among men 18 to 44, 90 percent said they thought of themselves as heterosexual, 2 percent as homosexual, 2 percent bisexual and 4 percent as "something else," findings similar to those in the 1992 study.
Among women, 86 percent said they were attracted only to males, 10 percent "mostly to males." In the 1992 survey, only 3 percent said they were "mostly" attracted to males.
The National Center for Health Statistics Thursday released the government's most comprehensive survey of American sexual practices and reproductive health, delving for the first time into such sensitive areas as the prevalence of oral sex among teenagers and same-sex activity among adults.
Oral sex among teenagers has in recent years become a topic of rampant speculation and little solid data, apart from a 1995 Urban Institute study of adolescent boys. The new statistics confirm that study's findings that oral sex is very much part of the teenage sexual repertory. According to the survey, more than half of all those age 15 to 19 have engaged in oral sex -- including nearly a quarter of those who have never had intercourse.
The data come from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth, a survey of 12,571 men and women age 15 to 44. The survey contractor was the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research.
The institute trained more than 200 female interviewers to collect the data by having the subject answer sensitive questions on a laptop computer, without revealing the answers to the interviewer.
Although the National Center for Health Statistics has periodically conducted the National Survey among women for 32 years, the 2002 version was the first to include both sexes, and to move beyond fertility and child-bearing into broader questions of sexual behavior and sexual orientation.
Among the findings in the "Sexual Behavior and Selected Health Measures" study:
• Men age 30 to 44 have had a median of six to eight sexual partners in their lifetimes; women's median was about four.
• Among men and women age 15 to 44, about two-thirds have had only one sexual partner in the last year. Ten percent of the men and 7 percent of the women have had three or more partners in that time.
• About 4 percent of men and women described themselves as homosexual or bisexual, but in a finding that surprised the researchers, 14 percent of the women age 18 to 29 reported at least one sexual experience with another woman, more than twice the proportion of young men who reported such an experience.
The report offers new information about homosexuality in America. Almost 3 percent of men between 15 and 44 and 4 percent of women reported having a sexual experience with a member of the same sex within the past year. Over their lifetimes, 6 percent of men and 11 percent of women had such experiences. About 1 percent of men and 3 percent of women had had both male and female sexual partners in the previous 12 months.
Nearly 6 percent of all men between 15 and 44 reported having oral sex with another man at some time in their lives, and nearly 4 percent reported having anal sex with another man.
Findings on teens
The new findings on teens and oral sex have been of special interest to health experts.
The proportion of teens who have given or received oral sex was slightly higher than the proportion who have had intercourse, with 55 percent of the boys and 54 percent of the girls having given or received oral sex, while 49 percent of the boys and 53 percent of the girls have had sexual intercourse.
"One thing that surprised me is that we expected, based on anecdotal evidence, that girls might be more likely to give oral sex and boys more likely to receive it, but we didn't find that at all," said Dr. Jennifer Manlove, of Child Trends, which, like Brown's group, released an analysis of the data. "There's more gender equality than we expected."
The government data does not provide any indication of the age at which oral sex first occurred, how often it occurred, or how many partners a teen had had. But the survey found that nearly all teens who have had sexual intercourse have also had oral sex: Among sexually experienced teens, 88 percent of the boys and 83 percent of the girls have had oral sex.
Many of the findings in the government report parallel those of the last large-scale study of American sexual behavior, a 1992 study of 18- to 59-year-olds by the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center.
William Mosher, the lead author of the new study, said it found a new and unexpected increase in lesbian activity.
When asked, "Have you ever had any sexual experience of any kind with any female?" 14 percent of the 18- to 29-year-old women said yes, compared with slightly under 10 percent of the 30- to 44-year-olds.
The study also asked about sexual attraction and sexual orientation. Among men 18 to 44, 90 percent said they thought of themselves as heterosexual, 2 percent as homosexual, 2 percent bisexual and 4 percent as "something else," findings similar to those in the 1992 study.
Among women, 86 percent said they were attracted only to males, 10 percent "mostly to males." In the 1992 survey, only 3 percent said they were "mostly" attracted to males.
When I read these studies I am always a bit suspicious too and it is mostly because of the reason you mentioned ...HONESTY!! Who would be totally honest about there sex life. I know I have held back many details about my sex life. I am only totally open to my doctor of course.
