Ask the Sexpert: Feb. 24, 2011

Dear Sexpert,

Last week I saw lots of posters around campus with bunnies on them and the slogan, “Not everyone is doing it,” and said that “3 out of 4 Princetonians had 0–1 sexual partners last year.” Where does this statistic come from? Is it really true?

— Playing by the Numbers

Dear Playing,

If you’re an upperclassman, you may recall receiving an e-mail some time in the last few years asking you to fill out a “National College Health Assessment.” These surveys are sent out to college students across the country and ask questions about various health topics including alcohol, tobacco and drug use, nutrition, exercise, mental health and, you guessed it, sexual health. Based on the results of this survey, information about the health practices of college students generally, and for Princeton specifically, is available.

The numbers on the posters represent results from the spring 2009 survey. According to the survey, 43 percent of Princeton students reported having no sex partners in the past year, while 33 percent of students reported having just one sex partner last year. Combine these two numbers together and you get the figures on the poster — that three-fourths of students reported having zero or one sex partners in the past year. I’ll save you from having to do the math and tell you that this also means that 24 percent of Princeton students reported having two or more sexual partners in the past year.

It is understandable that you may have found these numbers somewhat surprising; indeed, they differ somewhat from the national averages for college students. Nationally, about 34 percent of college students reported having zero sex partners in the past year, while 42 percent reported having one sex partner, and 24 percent reported having two or more sex partners.

When looking at these numbers it is important to remember what “sex partners” and “number of partners” means. In the case of this survey, the definition of “sex partners” was someone with whom you engaged in oral, vaginal or anal sex. In this survey, “number of partners” means just that. Thus people who responded as having “zero” sex partners are not necessarily abstinent, and people who put “one” for number of sex partners are not necessarily monogamous — it simply indicates how many people the person has slept with in the past year.

I commend you for your diligence in finding out more about these facts. If you have any more questions, or are just interested in finding out more about these surveys you may want to visit the American College Health Assessment and National College Health Assessment website at www.acha-ncha.org or take a look at “Princeton by the Numbers” on the USG website.

— The Sexpert

The Sexpert is written by a team of peer sexual health educators and fact-checked by University health professionals. You can submit questions to sexpert@dailyprincetonian.com. Don’t be shy!