[Patterns of sexual behavior. A study on gynecological patients (author's transl)]

With a standard questionnaire 7356 lying-in patients at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Erlangen-Nürnberg, were asked about their social background and their sexual habits. First of all some statistical facts concerning the frequency of distribution: 20% of all women questioned had their first cohabitation before the age of seventeen. 53% had sexual intercourse with one man, 23% with two, the remainder with more than two men. Quite a number of social characteristics influenced the sexual behavior of women. Thus it was shown that women have their first cohabitation before the age of eighteen the sooner the lower their social status is and the more partners they had. Insufficient contraceptive precautions or the neglect of any contraception were mainly met with women of lower social status. The same correlation could be found between contraceptive behavior on the one hand and the parameters education and strong religious commitment on the other hand. In rural aereas contraceptive measures were used insufficiently or less often then in urban communities.