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Safe Sex Less Common With Adults

Posted on: Tuesday, 18 November 2008, 08:05 CST

A new British study finds that people in their 30s and 40s are less likely than teens to practice safe sex.

The researchers surveyed 11,161 men and women age 16 to 44 years old, and found that 68 percent of those aged 16 to 19 years old said they used protection during an initial sexual encounter with a new partner, while only 38 percent of men and 29 percent of women aged 35 to 44 reported doing so.

In conducting their study, Dr. Catherine H. Mercer of University College London and her colleagues carried out face-to-face interviews with each participant, while sensitive questions involving sexual issues were completed with a computer-assisted self-interview. Each participant reported their number of sexual partners, and provided detailed information on the nature of their three most recent relationships. 

The survey’s results revealed 15,488 heterosexual partnerships reported by 9,598 people. For 39 percent of men, these partnerships were considered casual, defined as "not yet regular", while 20 percent of women's relationships were reported as casual.  In total, 37 percent of men and 29 percent of women reported using a condom the last time they had sex.

During first-time sex with a new partner, 55 percent of the respondents reported used a condom.  Interestingly, couples with an age difference of five years or greater were less likely to use condoms during an initial sexual encounter.

The survey also found that 23 percent of men reported having sex within 24 hours of meeting their current partner, versus just 11 percent of women who reported doing so.

"Increasing rates of sexually transmitted infections diagnosed among those in their 30s and 40s suggest that interventions that promote consistent condom use with new partners are urgently required, not just for young people as has been the focus recently, but for people in their 30s and 40s and older who are increasingly forming new partnerships," Mercer and her team wrote in a report about the study. 

The researchers said the high rate of unprotected sex the survey identified, especially in casual relationships, is "worrisome".

"Condom use with new partners needs to be promoted among all age groups," they said.

The study was published in the November 2008 International Journal of Epidemiology.

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On the Net:

• University College London
• International Journal of Epidemiology

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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