College students have less risky sex

SEATTLE, June 6 (UPI) -- Teens attending U.S. colleges six months after high school are much less likely to engage in risky sex than those who don't go to college, researchers say.

Lead author Jennifer Bailey of the University of Washington in Seattle says that for the purposes of the study casual sex was defined as sex with someone not considered to be a boyfriend or girlfriend, sex with someone one had known for less than two weeks or having more than one sexual partner in the previous month.

Criteria for high-risk sex included casual sex and inconsistent condom use, as well as having sex with a man who had sex with other men or having sex with a partner who was HIV positive or who was an intravenous drug user.

The study, published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, finds college students were more likely to always use a condom and less likely to engage in casual sex or high-risk sex than teens who did not attend a two- or four-year college.

Twenty-three percent of college students reported inconsistent condom use compared to 35 percent of the non-college subjects; 15 percent of college students engaged in casual sex vs. 29 percent of the others; 5 percent of college students had high-risk sex vs. 16 percent of others; and 53 percent of college students engaged in sex in the previous month vs. 70 percent of others.

Living at home did not protect against risky sexual behavior, Bailey says.