The attitude towards nature,and incidence of sexual intimacy among students at a South African University

The authors, of the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, surveyed 60 male university students of mean age 21.37 years and 79 female students of mean age 20.13 years with the goal of gaining insight into their sex behavior and their attitudes toward sexuality. The home language of 83% of the women and 85% of the men was Afrikaans, while the remaining subjects had English as a home language. One student was married, three were engaged to be married, and two lived together with a person of the opposite sex. 51 students were in steady relationships and 82 were single. 82% of the men and 90% of the women choose to have sex with someone of the same race. The study found a relatively low occurrence of sexual intercourse and promiscuity, and a very high percentage of subjects regarded themselves as heterosexual and as morally and religiously conservative. 97% of the men and 99% of the women regarded themselves as being heterosexual, and 3% of men and 1% of women regarded themselves as being bisexual. 6.6% of men and 1.34% of women, however, reported having had sexual contact with someone of the same sex. 37% of the men and 32% of the women reported having ever had sexual intercourse with a person of the opposite sex. These percentages are notably lower than those found by other investigators and the authors believe that a higher proportion of students at the university are actually sexually active than that suggested by this survey's findings. Among those sexually active, 17% of men and 18% of women were involved in sexual relationships with more than one partner. 68% of the sexually active men and women report using condoms often, 14% of men and 8% of women use contraceptives on an irregular basis, and 18% of men and 25% of women never use contraceptives. The birth control pill and condom were the most widely used methods. 85% of men and 86% of women felt that both partners should be responsible for taking precautions against unwanted pregnancy. These findings indicate that the overwhelming majority of subjects in this study are not at high risk for contracting AIDS.