Download Young people are intentionally taking drink and drugs for better sex

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Charlotte Webber
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07/02/08
Young people are intentionally taking drink and drugs for better sex
Teenagers and young adults across Europe drink and take drugs as part of deliberate
sexual strategies. Findings published today in BioMed Central’s open access journal,
BMC Public Health, reveal that a third of 16-35 year old males and a quarter of females
surveyed are drinking alcohol to increase their chances of sex, while cocaine, ecstasy
and cannabis are intentionally used to enhance sexual arousal or prolong sex.
The study was conducted by researchers in public health and social sciences from across
Europe. More than 1300 people aged between 16 and 35 and who routinely socialise in
nightlife settings completed anonymous questionnaires.
Virtually all of the survey participants had drunk alcohol with most having had their first
drink when 14 or 15 years old. Three quarters of the respondents had tried or used
cannabis, while around 30 percent had at least tried ecstasy or cocaine.
Overall, alcohol was most likely to be used to facilitate a sexual encounter, while cocaine
and cannabis were more likely to be utilised to enhance sexual sensations and arousal.
Despite these perceived sexual “benefits”, drunkenness and drug use were strongly
associated with an increase in risk taking behaviour and feeling regretful about having
sex while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Thus, participants who had been
drunk in the past four weeks were more likely to have had five or more partners, sex
without a condom and to have regretted sex after drink or drugs in the past 12 months.
Cannabis, cocaine or ecstasy use was linked to similar consequences.
“Trends in recent decades have resulted in recreational drug use and binge drinking
becoming routine features of European nightlife,” says lead author Mark Bellis, from
Liverpool John Moores University. “Millions of young Europeans now take drugs and
drink in ways which alter their sexual decisions and increase their chances of unsafe sex
or sex that is later regretted. Yet despite the negative consequences, we found many
are deliberately taking these substances to achieve quite specific sexual effects.”
Individuals were significantly more likely to have had sex under 16 years if they had
used alcohol, cannabis, cocaine or ecstasy before that age. Girls in particular were as
much as four times as likely to have had sex before the age of 16 if they drank alcohol
or used cannabis under 16.
“Sexual activity accompanied by substance use is not just incidental, but often sexually
motivated,” says co-author, consultant psychiatrist Amador Calafat. “Interventions
addressing sexual health are often developed, managed and implemented independently
from those addressing substance use, and vice versa. However, young people often see
alcohol, drugs and sex all as part of the same social experience and addressing these
issues requires an equally joined up approach. ”
-ENDSMedia Contact
Charlotte Webber
Press Office, BioMed Central
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7631 9980
Email: [email protected]
Notes to Editors
1. Sexual uses of alcohol and drugs and the associated health risks: a cross sectional study of young
people in nine European cities
Mark A Bellis, Karen Hughes, Amador Calafat, Montse Juan, Anna Ramon, Jose A Rodriguez,
Fernando Mendes, Susanne Schnitzer and Penny Phillips-Howard
BMC Public Health (in press)
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all aspects of epidemiology and public health medicine. BMC Public Health (ISSN 1471-2458) is
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