New study out on the sexual habits of teens which finds that sexual partners aren’t clustered the way it had been expected, but tend to be spread out in long chains.
A study of sexual and romantic relations at a high school found students connected by long chains, rather than in a tight network with a core group of a promiscuous few. Sharing of partners was rare, but many students were indirectly linked through one partner to another and another. The unexpected result could help shape strategies for combating sexually transmitted diseases among young people.
“We went into this study believing we would find a core model, with a small group of people who are sexually active,” said James Moody, a professor of sociology at Ohio State University. “We were surprised to find a very different kind of network.”
In the most striking chain, 52 percent of the romantically involved students were connected in a manner of student A having relations with B, and B having relations with C, and so on down the line over the 18 months of the study. Students couldn’t possibly know of all the connections, the scientists conclude. “Many of the students only had one partner,” Moody said. “They certainly weren’t being promiscuous. But they couldn’t see all the way down the chain.”
The numbers showed about half the students had been sexually active, which matches the national average. Here’s a diagram of the relationships.
The behavior shown is different from in adults:
The research reveals a semantically complex rule that seems to guide adolescent sexual conduct. Here goes: A girl is loath to date her old boyfriend’s new girlfriend’s old boyfriend. Adults don’t generally adhere to any similar rule, so core populations of sexually active adults tend to be prime spreaders of disease. But with adolescents, the study suggests, “there aren’t any hubs to target, so you have to focus on broad-based interventions,” Moody said.
As the saying goes, you’re not only sleeping with your partner, but with everyone else they’ve slept with — which, in a chain like this, might be a lot more people than either of you know.
(via Liz)