SEXUAL-BEHAVIOR IN THE UNITED-STATES, 1930-1990 - TRENDS AND METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS

Background and Objectives: Arguments for population-based research on patterns of sexual behavior are reviewed, and survey data are used to illustrate the insights that can be gained from such research. Study D esign: Reports of sexual behavior obtained in surveys of large probabi lity samples of the U.S. population are analyzed and compared to make inferences about changes in the age of onset of sexual intercourse and the patterns of heterosexual and same-gender sexual behaviors of Amer ican men and women who entered adulthood during the period from 1930 t o 1990. Results: Strong trends are documented for both a decline in th e reported age at first heterosexual intercourse and an increase in th e numbers of heterosexual partners reported during adulthood. Similar evidence on patterns of same-gender contact indicate a relatively stab le prevalence of reported male-male contact for cohorts of men born fr om the 1930s through the 1960s, Preliminary analyses suggest, however, that there has been a substantial increase in the proportion of women reporting female-female sexual contact during adulthood. Although the analyses require refinement, it appears that the prevalence of report ed female-female contact may have increased by a factor of 3 to 4 for cohorts of women born between the 1930s and the 1960s. Conclusions: Al though the trends in reported behaviors are robust, inferences about b ehavior, per se, rest on the assumption that reporting biases were equ ivalent across cohorts, Methodological challenges in the interpretatio n of such findings and new technologies for conducting such research a re described.