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 Editorials | Issues | June 2007 
In Federal Survey on Sex, Men Report More Partners
 David Crary - Associated Press
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| | According to a new survey, over half of British women prefer chocolate to sex, saying it can be depended on to give pleasure. (AFP/Stan Honda) |
It's a question that often prompts a boastful answer or a bashful one: How many sex partners have you had?
Now the US federal government says it has authoritative statistics, documenting that men are far more likely to play the field than women.
A new nationwide survey designed to solicit candid answers on sexual activity and illegal drug use finds that 29 percent of American men report having had 15 or more female sexual partners, while only 9 percent of women report having sex with 15 or more men.
The median number of lifetime female sexual partners for men was seven; the median number of male partners for women was four.
The survey, released Friday, is based on data collected from 1999 to 2002 for the National Center for Health Statistics, a branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In previous versions of this survey, participants were asked questions in face-to-face interviews. The CDC believes that caused some people to lie about behaviors that might be viewed negatively, though it did not provide comparisons between this study and earlier reports.
This time, data were gathered from 6,237 adults, ages 20 to 59, in what are called computer-assisted self-interviews - designed to provide complete privacy and produce more honest answers.
"This is the first time we've used this technique," said Dr. Kathryn Porter, who served as medical officer for the survey. "The participants have a headset on, they hear questions, they touch the screen with responses. There's no one else in the room, and they can take as long as they want."
Among the other findings:
• About 96 percent of U.S. adults have had sex.
• About 11 percent of never-married adults had remained chaste.
• Sixteen percent of adults first had sex before age 15, while 15 percent abstained from sex until at least age 21.
• Black men and women were more likely to report having had 15 or more partners (46 percent and 13 percent, respectively) than other racial or ethnic groups.
• Twenty-five percent of women and 17 percent of men reporting having no more than one partner of the other sex in their lifetime.
• Twenty-six percent of men and 17 percent of women have tried cocaine or other street drugs (not including marijuana) at some time in their lives.
• Non-Hispanic whites had a higher percentage of ever using cocaine or street drugs (23.5 percent) than blacks (18 percent) or Mexican-Americans (16 percent).
The questions about numbers of sex partners specified heterosexual relationships; the survey did not measure the extent of gay or lesbian sexual partnerships. |
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