Sexual behaviors of medical students: preliminary results

Background

Sexual problems are quite prevalent affecting up to 20-30% of men and up to 43% of women [1–4]. Information about sexual practices may help gain a better understanding of the occurrence of sexual problems and further improve their management.

Materials and methods

The study population included 231 medical students (99 men and 132 women) of the University of Athens, during the academic year 2008-2009. The participants were asked to complete a self - administered questionnaire which included demographic data and a questionnaire regarding sexual behaviors.

Results

Mean age of the participants was 24 years. More than half of them (67.1%) reported having a sexual partner and 75.8% of them reported having sexual intercourse more than once a week. The decision preceded the act by a few seconds or minutes in 82.6% of subjects. Foreplay was important, very important or essential for 97.4% of subjects, while most of them (73.5%) considered that foreplay was equally important for both partners. The majority of participants reported that they don't have a preferred timing (67.1%) or season (80.8%) for sexual intercourse. For most of the subjects it was very easy or quite easy to talk about sex with their sexual partner (95.2%) or with their friends (87.1%). The vast majority of the students reported informing themselves on sexual issues (83.8%) and information sources were primarily acquaintances (55%) and the internet (44.1%).

Conclusions

Sexuality seems to be important for this group of young adults. The decision to have sex is spontaneous, foreplay is an important component of sexual intercourse and the time of the day or the year doesn't really matter. Students talk about sex quite open and inform themselves on sexual issues. This study employed a small, specific sample, thus the results are not representative of the general population.