Sexual behaviour of unmarried tel-aviv university students

Sexual experience and attitudes and the use of contraception were studied in 482 unmarried students at Tel-Aviv University. A third of the female students were virgin while the majority (51%) were sexually active at the time of study as were 61% of male students. The use of contraceptives was found to be directly related to engagement in sexual activity on a regular basis. A similar relationship was found between the use of contraception and attitudes towards unwanted pregnancy. Although 75%of all students supported termination of unwanted pregnancy, about half of the inexperienced females would opt for marriage and childbearing. The greater the extent of past sexual experience the more sexual activity was considered as contributory to interpersonal relationships. The extent of sexual activity of female students differed significantly between the various faculties. Female students in the Arts were the most active, although their use of contraceptives was not proportionally greater. Among medical students, although the overall percentage of sexually active females was low, for those who were active contraceptive use was highest (70%).