Young people have more varied sex lives than their parents

Young people today are taking part in a wider range of sexual practices with opposite-sex partners compared to 20 years ago, according to new analysis by UCL and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Vaginal intercourse and oral sex remained the most common combination of sexual practices experienced in the past year by heterosexual couples, according to the study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health. However, the proportion of sexually active 16-24 year olds who said they have had vaginal, oral and anal sex during the last year has risen, from about one in ten women and men in 1990-1991, to one in four men and one in five women in 2010-2012. Some of the largest increases in the prevalence of oral and anal sex over the past decade were observed among those aged 16-18, according to the study which describes changes in young people's sexual practices using nationally-representative data from the National Surveys of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal), the largest scientific studies of sexual health and lifestyles in Britain. Conducted by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UCL and NatCen Social Research, the three studies have been carried out every 10 years since 1990, and have involved interviews with more than 45,000 people to date. Lead author Dr Ruth Lewis, who conducted the work while at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine but is now based at the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow, said: "At a time when much sex and relationships education is being updated, keeping pace with current trends in sexual practices is crucial so that curricula are tailored to the realities of young people's experiences.