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Partner-specific sexual practices among heterosexual men and women with multiple partners: Results from the French national survey, ACSF

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Abstract

Heterosexual men and women with several partners are at risk of acquiring and transmitting sexually transmitted diseases and HIV. Risk depends on parameters such as the sexual practices themselves which may vary according to the type of partner (regular vs. casual). It is therefore important to describe the sexual practices and identify the correlations between the type of partner and these practices among heterosexuals with multiple partners. A subsample of all subjects having had at least two sexual partners during the previous year (n=1644) was obtained from the ACSF survey (n=20,055), the French national telephone survey on sexual behavior conducted between September 1991 and February 1992. Questions concerned in particular sexual practices of the last encounter as well as type of partner. Petting and vaginal penetration were almost systematic, mutual manual stimulation and orogenital sex were common, while self-masturbation and anal sex were infrequent. On average, a condom was seldom used. However, it was used more often when the partner was occasional. Nonpenetrative and oral practices were also more frequent with occasional partners. Women tended to report lower frequencies of practices and of condom use than men. A subset of heterosexuals with multiple partners engaged in safe sex. Practices tend to be partner-specific, with safer sex practices more likely to occur with occasional partners, although the magnitude of the difference is moderate.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Service de Santé Publique et Epidémiologie, Hôpital de Bicêtre, Le Kremlin-Bicétre, France

    Antoine Messiah M.D., Ph.D. & Agnès Pelletier M.D., M.S.

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  1. Antoine Messiah M.D., Ph.D.
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  2. Agnès Pelletier M.D., M.S.
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Additional information

The ACSF, a survey from the Agence Nationale de Recherches sur le Sida (ANRS), is supported by the Agence Nationale de Recherches sur le Sida, the Direction Générale de la Santé, the Comité Français d'Education pour la Santé, and the Agence Française de Lutte contre le Sida.

ACSFAnalyse des Comportments Sexuels en France (Analysis of Sexual Behaviour in France) investigators are: Alfred Spira (Director), Nathalie Bajos (Coordinator), André Béjin, Nathalie Beltzer, Michel Bozon, Béatrice Ducot, André Durandeau, Alexis Ferrand, Alain Giami, Augustin Gilloire, Michel Giraud, Henri Léridon, Dominique Ludwig, Antoine Messiah, Jean-Paul Moatti, Lise Mounnier, Hélène Olomucki, Jeanine de Poplavsky, Benoit Riandey, Brenda Spencer, Jean-Marie Sztalryd and Hubert Touzard. Collaborators are: Patrick de Colomby, Jean-Marie Firdion, Françoise Le Pont, and Josiane Warszawski.

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Messiah, A., Pelletier, A. Partner-specific sexual practices among heterosexual men and women with multiple partners: Results from the French national survey, ACSF. Arch Sex Behav 25, 233–247 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02438163

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