The Multiple Dimensions of Sexual Behavior As Risk Factor for Sexually Transmitted Disease

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Abstract
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 increased up to age 35 and decreased slightly from age 35 to 44. Teenagers report the least consistent sexual activity (< 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.