SEXUAL RISK BEHAVIOR AND HISTORY OF SEXUALLY-TRANSMITTED DISEASES IN RELATION TO CASUAL TRAVEL SEX DURING DIFFERENT TYPES OF JOURNEYS

Objectives. The study investigated if women with experience of casual travel sex, with a previously unknown man abroad, on different types o f journeys (charter, vagabond, business and education trips), differ w ith regard iu sexual risk behavior and history of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Study design. The study population consisted of 996 women. Of these, 27.7% admitted that they had had casual sex during: j ourneys. The remaining women were used as a comparison group. History of STDs and sexual risk behaviors were investigated. Results. The freq uency of women who had more than ten Lifetime sexual partners were gre atly increased in all groups, as compared to the controls, A history o f gonorrhea was most frequent among the charter travellers, A history of genital chlamydial infection was mast common among the vagabond tra vellers, The lowest frequencies of a history of STDs was observed in w omen engaging in casual sex on 'business' journeys and they had signif icantly less often a history of STDs as compared to the charter travel lers. A high frequency of STDs were seen in women who had experience o f casual sex on different types of journeys. Conclusion. Women on busi ness trips, although they had a similar sexual risk behaviour as the o ther groups of travellers, had less often a history of STDs.