Casual sex among Norwegian adolescents

The issue of casual sex and amount of sexual experience was studied using data from a representative sample of 2997 Norwegians, 17-19 years old. Data were collected by anonymous self-administered questionnaires, and the response rate was 62.8%. Results showed that among adolescents, experience of casual sex to a large extent was a function of the time the individual had been coitally active. The amount of sexual experience was poorly related to social background and strongly related to life-style factors such as smoking and drinking of alcohol. A small minority of adolescents was found to have a sexual behavior deviating from that of the majority, and thus containing elements of potentially high risk for contracting HIV or other STDs. This minority of adolescents had the identifying characteristic of low self-reported intimacy with their first coital partner.