Research on alcohol and sexual behaviour has focused on young adults or high-risk groups, showing alcohol use contributing to riskier sexual choices. Adults now in their late thirties have been exposed to heavier drinking norms than previously, raising questions about effects on sexual wellbeing. We examined self-reported use and consequences of alcohol in sexual contexts, and its association with usual drinking pattern at age 38, and also associations of heavy drinking occasion (HDO) frequency with number of sexual partners, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and terminations of pregnancy (TOPs), from 26-32 and 32-38 years of age.
Members of the Dunedin Study birth cohort answered computer-presented questions about sexual behaviour and outcomes, and interviewer-administered alcohol consumption questions, at age 26, 32 and 38 years.
Response level was >90% at each assessment. At 38, drinking before or during sex in the previous year was common (8.2% of men; 14.6% of women reported "usually/always"), and unwanted consequences were reported by 13.5% of men and 11.9% of women, including regretted sex or failure to use contraception or condoms. Frequent heavy drinkers were more likely to "use alcohol to make it easier to have sex" and regret partner choice, particularly women. Heavy drinking frequency was strongly associated with partner numbers for men and women at 32, but only for women at 38. Significantly higher odds of STIs amongst the heaviest drinking men, and TOPs amongst the heaviest drinking women were seen at 32-38.
Alcohol involvement in sex continues beyond young adulthood where it has been well documented, and is common at 38. Women appear to be more affected than men, and heavy drinking is associated with poorer outcomes for both. Improving sexual health and wellbeing throughout the life course needs to take account of the role of alcohol in sexual behaviour.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 39. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 26 March 2020.
All research outputs
#1,264,029
of 31,730,788 outputs
Outputs from PLOS ONE
#14,861
of 213,234 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#13,029
of 289,119 outputs
Outputs of similar age from PLOS ONE
#365
of 6,189 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 31,730,788 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 96th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 213,234 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 17.1. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 93% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 289,119 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 95% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 6,189 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 94% of its contemporaries.
