By Carol A. Kemper, MD, FACP
Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine, Stanford University, Division of Infectious Diseases, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center
Dr. Kemper reports no financial relationships relevant to this field of study.
SOURCE: Harper CR, Dittus PJ, Leichliter JS, Aral SO. Changes in the distribution of sex partners in the United States: 2002 to 2011-2013. Sex Transm Dis 2017;44:96-100.
Changing mores regarding sex have direct bearing on patterns of sexual behavior and frequencies of STDs. Recent data suggest adults of both sexes in the United States are more accepting of the idea of extra-marital sex and may be more willing to engage in sex with a casual sex partner. Yet, there is no good evidence that people of any particular age are having more sex partners — they just may not be marrying them. Recent data from various surveys suggest that the average number of sex partners has remained fairly stable over the past 10-15 years — although the curve has a very long right-handed tail, meaning that a few men and women of every age group are having sex with a lot of people — and the graph increasingly is becoming skewed to the right.
Data from the National Survey of Family Growth in 2002 and 2011-2013 was reviewed for the reported number of lifetime opposite sex partners and the number of opposite sex partners in the previous year. Interestingly, the median number of opposite sex partners for both men and women during the previous year did not significantly change from 2002 to 2011-2013. Both men and women reported a stable median number of one partner for the previous year. Of the upper 5% of men, the median number of self-reported opposite sex partners within the previous year remained stable at three in 2011-2013, compared with a stable number of two partners for the upper 5% women (P = NS).
Men continue to self-report more lifetime partners than women, although the gap appears to be closing, and the difference between the sexes is no longer statistically significant. The overall median number of opposite sex partners for women increased from three to four from 2002 to 2011-2013, compared with a stable median figure of five for men. Those figures were pretty similar, regardless of ethnicity, education, or poverty level. The top 20% of women reported a median number of eight partners, and the top 5% reported a median of 20 partners, figures that have not changed much in those 10 years. However, the median number of partners for the top 20% of men increased from 12 to 15, and in the top 5%, that figure increased from 38 to 50. That “50” figure was similar for the upper 5% of men, regardless of ethnicity, educational level, or whether above or below the Medicaid threshold. The data also suggest that one accumulates more partners with advancing age — not all at once, like in one’s 20s.
So, the median number of self-reported opposite sex partners for men remained fairly stable during those 10 years, while the average number of opposite sex partners for the average woman may have increased a little (still not quite as many as their male counterparts, but the gap may be closing). The exception is that subset of men at the far right of the curve — who are engaging in sex with many more partners than before.
Of course, if you read Cosmopolitan, you will know that men tend to inflate their number of sex partners and women tend to deflate theirs. So, maybe the difference between a median of four for women and five for men is actually the same?
Changing mores regarding sex have direct bearing on patterns of sexual behavior and frequencies of STDs.
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