
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 25, 1990                   TAG: 9003251945
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

COLLEGE SEX PATTERN CHANGES LITTLE

Despite the emergence in the 1980s of epidemics of sexually transmitted diseases such as herpes and AIDS, a new study finds college women are just as sexually active with multiple partners as they were in the mid-1970s.

Using almost identical questionaires, researchers surveyed women at Brown University in Providence, R.I., in 1975, 1986 and 1989. They found that, despite the waxing and waning of the so-called sexual revolution and the rise of new diseases, college women in 1989 had about the same number of sexual partners and participated in the same variety of sexual behaviors as their counterparts did in 1975.

In an attempt to limit the spread of the AIDS virus, public health workers have issued repeated warnings about the dangers of having multiple sexual partners and of engaging in intercourse without the use of condoms. Condoms have been shown to reduce dramatically the risk of spreading AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

But the current study, published in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, concludes that "public health campaigns have not had a substantial influence on the habits and behavior of these well-educated young adults."

The researchers did, however, note that more college women now rely on condoms. The use of condoms as "the usual method of birth control" increased from 6 percent in 1975 to 14 percent in 1986 and to 25 percent in 1989. In addition, the "regular use" of condoms, sometimes in conjunction with other methods of birth control, increased from 12 percent in 1975 to 41 percent in 1989.

"We do have an increase in the use of condoms. That is very good, very encouraging. But we want to build on that," said Barbara DeBuono of Brown University and the Roger Williams General Hospital in Providence. DeBuono did the study with Brown colleagues Stephen Zinner and Maxim Daamen, and William McCormack of the State University of New York Health Science Center in Brooklyn.

DeBuono and her colleagues found that in both 1975 and 1989, about 88 percent of the women surveyed said they were sexually active. The women, whose average age was 21, were asked to complete confidential questionaires and were given anonymity. The women were all highly educated, as were their parents.

In 1975, about 22 percent of the women interviewed had more than six sexual partners in their lifetime and more than three partners in the year leading up to the survey. In 1989, about 21 percent of the women surveyed had more than six partners in their lifetimes and more than three in the previous year.

The percentages of women engaging in oral sex or anal intercourse were basically unchanged from 1975 to 1989. Anal intercourse has often been associated with increased risk of transmitting the AIDS virus.

Among the women who were sexually active, Daamen of Brown University reports that between 15 and 20 percent knew someone with AIDS. When asked if the women ever worried about contracting the AIDS virus, about half said they occasionally worried about becoming infected.

While the women surveyed obviously understand on an intellectual level the need to protect themselves, the researchers argue that "new educational approaches may be necessary to translate knowledge about the current epidemics of sexually transmitted diseases into more protective sexual behavior."

by CNB