17 September 2009

Alcohol is commonly seen as a factor in not using a condom with a new partner, regretting sexual activity and having sex with someone who would not normally be found attractive.

These are the results from new research published today by sexual health charity fpa. The charity wants to encourage greater public recognition that alcohol can and does influence sexual decision making. The research is being launched for fpa’s new One too Many campaign for its Sexual Health Week, 14–20 September, which is also supporting health professionals delivering consultations about sex and alcohol to patients.

Of the 1,002 people aged 18–30 who had past experience of both alcohol and sex, surveyed online by Ipsos MORI on behalf of fpa, 37% said they had ‘had sex with a new partner without using a condom’. Of this group, 40% said that alcohol was a factor (either a great deal or a fair amount) in what happened [1]. 

Regretted sex and alcohol, it appears, also often go hand in hand as of the 38% of all respondents who said ‘I have taken part in sexual activity with someone and then regretted it later’, a staggering 70% of these said alcohol was a factor (either a great deal or a fair amount) in what happened. And over a quarter of all respondents (28%) had sex with someone they normally wouldn’t find attractive (fancy), with 73% of them giving alcohol as a factor.

Reacting to these figures, Julie Bentley Chief Executive of fpa said, “People don’t go out to take risks, they go out to have a good time. People may start with the best intentions, but drinking alcohol reduces the chances of using a condom with someone new and impairs sexual decision making. fpa isn't here to tell people how much they should or shouldn’t drink. Our point is, that you’re more likely to take chances with your sexual health if you’ve drunk alcohol.”

Among the group who had not used a condom with a new partner and said they thought alcohol was a factor (either a great deal or a fair amount) in the decision (15% of all respondents in total), one in eight (13%) reported that on at least one occasion they or the person they had sex with became pregnant (unplanned). Another 7% of them said that they had contracted a sexually transmitted infection (STI) [2].

Julie continues, “The fact that some people in our research experienced an unplanned pregnancy or an STI as a result of sex under the influence of alcohol is worrying enough. However, it’s likely there are more people who simply won’t ever know if the sex resulted in a pregnancy, STI or not as they never see that person again.”

The research also asked people if they sought advice from a medical professional or relevant helpline if they had taken risks with their sexual health [3].

Of those who had had sex with a new partner without a condom and thought that alcohol was a factor in this (either a great deal or a fair amount) – approaching two-thirds (63%) did not seek medical advice (or not on every occasion if this had happened more than once).

The main reason for not seeking medical advice, mentioned by almost half (48%), was that they thought it was unlikely that the person they had had sex with would have an STI. Over a third (35%) said that they did not seek advice because they / the person they had sex with was using contraception (e.g. the contraceptive pill) and another third (35%) said they ‘didn’t really think about it’. However, as the actual number of respondents who did not seek advice related to this was only 93, the findings from questions asked of this group specifically should be interpreted as indicative only.

Julie Bentley continued, “Some people are still not heeding safe sex messages and presume they’re not at risk of either unplanned pregnancy or STIs.

“The fact that people are not seeking medical advice after risk-taking sexual behaviour makes it incredibly hard for professionals to offer advice and help. But there are opportunities for professionals to recognise signs or factors that people may present with. There is more information for professionals on fpa’s website as well as a guidance sheet.”

There are more survey results available from fpa’s website www.fpa.org.uk.

     -ENDS-

High resolution jpegs of all campaign materials are available from fpa’s press office.

For further information please contact fpa’s press office on 020 7608 5265/5264. Mobile 07958 921060.

fpa (Family Planning Association) is a registered charity working to improve the sexual health and reproductive rights of all people throughout the UK.

Notes to editors:
*The research was carried out for fpa’s One too Many campaign for Sexual Health Week 14–20 September 2009. Posters and campaign materials have been sent to Universities, Further Education Colleges, contraception and sexual health clinics and all General Practices in the UK. 

Campaign materials include:
 Enjoy sex responsibly posters
 Enjoy sex responsibly strategies leaflet on protecting sexual health when drinking
 Enjoy sex responsibly hand stamps
 Guidance sheet for health professionals delivering sexual health consultations on alcohol

fpa gratefully acknowledges funding towards the campaign materials from the Department of Health.

Ipsos MORI conducted the survey on Alcohol and Sexual Health on behalf of fpa. The survey was conducted among 1,002 members of Ipsos MORI’s GB online panel. All participants were aged 18–30 and had had sex/taken part in sexual activity and drink/had drunk alcohol. The fieldwork was conducted between 11–18 August 2009.

Only online panel members aged.18–30 were invited to take part in the survey. Two screener questions were then used to establish eligibility for the survey (i.e. having had sex/taken part in sexual activity and having drunk alcohol). Seventeen percent of those originally asked were screened out because of ineligibility or because they refused to answer the screener questions. Quotas were set to ensure that those completing the screener questions were representative of the offline GB 18-30 population in terms of age, gender, region and social grade. It was not possible to set quotas on the survey itself as the profile of those fitting the survey criteria is not known.

Not all of the survey results are being released today – further findings may be published in the coming months.

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1 Participants were given the following instruction; ‘If a situation has happened on more than one occasion please indicate whether or not you had been drinking alcohol on any of those occasions’. They were then asked the extent to which they thought having drunk alcohol was a factor.
2 Participants were given the following instruction; ‘If the situation happened on more than one occasion please indicate whether any of the following happened on any one of those occasions’.
3 Participants were given the following instructions; ‘If this situation happened on more than one occasion please indicate yes only if you sought medical advice on all of those occasions’ and ‘If this situation happened on more than one occasion please indicate all the reasons why you did not seek medical advice on any of those occasions’.