Sexual attitudes and behavior of young adults who were burned as children

Little is known about sexual attitudes and behaviors of adults burned as children. We hypothesized that survivors with large burn scars would have differences in sexual attitudes and behaviors from their unburned counterparts.

Ninety-two young adults (50 males and 42 females), ages 21.0 ± 2.7 years old, who were burned 30% total body surface area or more as children 14.2 ± 5.4 years earlier, completed the questionnaire "What Young People Believe and Do" by RC Sorenson, 1972. The questionnaire explores sources of sexual information, attitudes toward different sexual behaviors, and experience with different sexual behaviors.

Sixty-five percent of the females and 52% of the males currently had a significant other. Although only 54% women and 60% of men felt they were sexually attractive, 83 and 87%, respectively, endorsed feeling confident about sex. Experience with sexual intercourse was common: 90% of females and 76% of males. Burn severity was not significantly correlated with sexual attitudes and behaviors.

The majority of 92 young adults burned as children described sexual attitudes and behaviors comparable to the general population and the vast majority had significant sexual experience. Females reported more sexual behavior post-burn than males.