Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Whos cheating? Agreements about sexual exclusivity and subsequent concurrent partnering in Australian heterosexual couples

Whos cheating? Agreements about sexual exclusivity and subsequent concurrent partnering in... BackgroundConcurrent relationships are a driver of generalised epidemics of sexually transmissible infections (STIs). In Australia, explicit negotiation of agreements about sex outside regular relationships has been recommended in health promotion for gay men but not for heterosexuals. Objective: To ascertain the annual incidence of concurrency among people in ongoing malefemale relationships according to their reported expectations of exclusivity. Methods: In a national cohort recruited by household random digit dialling in 200405, people aged 1664 years completed computer-assisted telephone interviews including questions about expectations of sexual exclusivity, discussion and agreements. A year later, those in ongoing sexual relationships (5323 people) were asked about sexual partner numbers in the past year. Results: The huge majority (96%) expected sexual exclusivity of themselves and their partner. However, only 48% of men and 64% of women had discussed the matter and explicitly agreed. Older respondents were less likely to report discussion. Only 1% reported mutually nonexclusive (open) relationships. A year later, 93% of respondents were still in the same relationship, among whom 4% of men and 2% of women had had sex outside the relationship. Those with agreements that one or both partners could have sex with others were more likely to do so, but the majority of respondents who had sex with someone else were in relationships that were explicitly or implicitly expected to be exclusive. Conclusions: Sexual health promotion should stress the importance of STI testing and establishing agreements about exclusivity before condoms are abandoned in new relationships. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Sexual Health CSIRO Publishing

Whos cheating? Agreements about sexual exclusivity and subsequent concurrent partnering in Australian heterosexual couples

Download PDF
8 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/csiro-publishing/whos-cheating-agreements-about-sexual-exclusivity-and-subsequent-0J0nozKCfo

References

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
CSIRO Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s). Published by CSIRO Publishing
ISSN
1448-5028
eISSN
1449-8987
DOI
10.1071/SH14031
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

BackgroundConcurrent relationships are a driver of generalised epidemics of sexually transmissible infections (STIs). In Australia, explicit negotiation of agreements about sex outside regular relationships has been recommended in health promotion for gay men but not for heterosexuals. Objective: To ascertain the annual incidence of concurrency among people in ongoing malefemale relationships according to their reported expectations of exclusivity. Methods: In a national cohort recruited by household random digit dialling in 200405, people aged 1664 years completed computer-assisted telephone interviews including questions about expectations of sexual exclusivity, discussion and agreements. A year later, those in ongoing sexual relationships (5323 people) were asked about sexual partner numbers in the past year. Results: The huge majority (96%) expected sexual exclusivity of themselves and their partner. However, only 48% of men and 64% of women had discussed the matter and explicitly agreed. Older respondents were less likely to report discussion. Only 1% reported mutually nonexclusive (open) relationships. A year later, 93% of respondents were still in the same relationship, among whom 4% of men and 2% of women had had sex outside the relationship. Those with agreements that one or both partners could have sex with others were more likely to do so, but the majority of respondents who had sex with someone else were in relationships that were explicitly or implicitly expected to be exclusive. Conclusions: Sexual health promotion should stress the importance of STI testing and establishing agreements about exclusivity before condoms are abandoned in new relationships.

Journal

Sexual Health – CSIRO Publishing

Published: Oct 9, 2014

References

  • The influence of concurrent partnerships on the dynamics of HIV/AIDS.
    Watts CH May RM
  • Concurrent partnerships and the spread of HIV.
    Morris M Kretzschmar M
  • Sexual network patterns as determinants of STD rates: paradigm shift in the behavioral epidemiology of STDs made visible.
    Aral SO
  • Concurrent partnerships and HIV prevalence disparities by race: linking science and public health practice.
    Morris M Kurth A Hamilton D Moody J Wakefield S
  • Concurrency revisited: increasing and compelling epidemiological evidence.
    Mah TL Shelton JD
  • Changing attitudes to sexual morality: a cross-national comparison.
    Scott J
  • Sex in Australia: attitudes toward sex in a representative sample of adults.
    Rissel CE Richters J Grulich AE de Visser RO Smith AMA
  • Concurrent sexual partnerships among women in the United States.
    Adimora AA Schoenbach VJ Bonas DM Martinson FEA Donaldson KH Stancil TR
  • Concurrent partnerships, nonmonogamous partners, and substance use among women in the United States.
    Adimora AA Schoenbach VJ Taylor EM Khan MR Schwartz RJ
  • Sexual behaviour in Britain: partnerships, practices, and HIV risk behaviours.
    Johnson AM Mercer CH Erens B Copas AJ McManus S Wellings K et al
  • Sex in Australia: the rationale and methods of the Australian Study of Health and Relationships.
    Smith AMA Rissel CE Richters J Grulich AE de Visser RO
  • Sex in Australia: heterosexual experience and recent heterosexual encounters among a representative sample of adults.
    de Visser RO Smith AMA Rissel CE Richters J Grulich AE
  • Sex in Australia: selected characteristics of regular sexual relationships.
    Rissel CE Richters J Grulich AE de Visser RO Smith AMA
  • Infidelity in committed relationships I: a methodological review.
    Blow AJ Hartnett K
  • Infidelity in committed relationships II: a substantive review.
    Blow AJ Hartnett K
  • The Australian longitudinal study of health and relationships.
    Smith AMA Pitts MK Shelley JM Richters J Ferris J
  • Neglected issues and hypotheses regarding the impact of sexual concurrency on HIV and sexually transmissible infections.
    Boily M-C Alary M Baggaley RF
  • Partnership concurrency and coital frequency.
    Gaydosh L Reniers G Helleringer S
  • Unfaithful individuals are less likely to practice safer sex than openly nonmonogamous individuals.
    Conley TD Moors AC Ziegler A Karathanasis C
  • Sex surveys: what does it mean when thirty to forty percent don’t participate?
    Dunne M
  • Truth and consequences: using the bogus pipeline to examine sex differences in self-reported sexuality.
    Alexander MG Fisher TG
  • Sex of experimenter and social norm effects on reports of sexual behavior in young men and women.
    Fisher TD
  • Intrapersonal, interpersonal, and contextual factors in engaging in and responding to extramarital involvement.
    Allen ES Atkins DC Baucom DH Snyder DK Coop Gordon K Glass SP
  • Negotiated safety and other agreements between men in relationships: risk practice redefined.
    Crawford JM Rodden P Kippax S Van de Ven P
  • Negotiated safety and other agreements between men in relationships: risk practice redefined.
    Crawford JM Rodden P Kippax S Van de Ven P
  • Sustaining safe sex: a longitudinal study of a sample of homosexual men.
    Kippax S Crawford J Davis M Rodden P Dowsett G
  • Sexual negotiation in the AIDS era: negotiated safety revisited.
    Kippax S Noble J Prestage G Crawford JM Campbell D Baxter D et al
  • Negotiated safety: not negotiable or safe?
    Ridge D
  • The consequences of divorce for adults and children.
    Amato PR
  • Research on divorce: continuing trends and new developments.
    Amato PR
  • Sex in Australia: safer sex and condom use among a representative sample of adults.
    De Visser RO Smith AMA Rissel CE Richters J Grulich AE
  • Sex in Australia: sexually transmissible infection and blood-borne virus history in a representative sample of adults.
    Grulich AE de Visser RO Smith AMA Risse CE Richters J