1. Summary findings of the Australian Study of Health and Relationships

3. 10,173 men and 9,134 women from all states and territories of Australia.

4. Response rate – 73.1%.

5. Most respondents stated that they were entirely honest in their responses and not embarrassed by the questions asked.

7. This declined to 16 for men born between 1981 and 1986.

8. For women the age at first vaginal intercourse declined from 19 to 16.

9. Contraceptive use at first intercourse increased from less than 30% of men and women in the 1950s to over 90% in the 2000s.

10. The age at first experience of oral sex now typically occurs around the time of first vaginal intercourse rather than some years afterward.

11. The age of first homosexual experience was higher than the age of first heterosexual experience.

13. Homosexual or bisexual people reported more partners than did those who identified as heterosexual.

14. Homosexual men and bisexual men and women had had more partners than had lesbians.

15. One person in four had not had sex in the previous four weeks.

16. Most people in the survey wanted more sex than they were having.

17. Most people had sex less than twice a week

18. 23.4% of men and 8.3% of women would like to have had sex daily or more often.

20. Of heterosexually active people, 3.3% relationships expected neither themselves nor their partner to reported unprotected sex with casual partners.

21. Most people in heterosexual relationships found sex very or extremely pleasurable.

22. Physical pleasure in sex was strongly related to emotional satisfaction.

23. Over three quarters of men and women agreed that premarital sex is acceptable. There was little difference between men and women.

25. Three quarters also agreed that having an affair outside a committed relationship is wrong.

26. Majority agreed that having sex is important to well-being.

27. Men were less tolerant of male homosexual behaviour than of female homosexual behaviour. Similarly, women were less tolerant of female homosexual behaviour than of male homosexual behavior.

28. Women were, however, generally more tolerant of homosexual behaviour overall than were men.

29. The terms ‘lesbian’, ‘gay’ and ‘bisexual’ are used to describe only those people who identify by these terms.

31. 97.7% of women identified as heterosexual, 0.8% as gay and 1.4% as bisexual.

32. 8.6% of men and 15.1% of women reported either feelings of attraction to the same sex or some sexual experience with the same sex.

33. Half the men and two thirds of the women who had same sex sexual experience regarded themselves as heterosexual rather than homosexual.

34. Condoms were used in 20% of the most recent episodes of vaginal intercourse.

35. They are largely used for contraceptive purposes.

37. Condom breakage was experienced by 23.8% of the men in the sample and condom slippage by 18.1%.

38. Oral contraception (33.6%) was the most popular with tubal ligation/hysterectomy (22.5%), condoms (21.4%) and vasectomy (19.3%) also widely used.

39. Tubal ligation was more common in regional and remote areas and condom use less common.

40. Of those who had vaginal intercourse 19.2% had used emergency contraception, of them 53.3% only once.

42. There has been a decline in the proportion of women becoming pregnant for the first time as teenagers.

43. Among women aged 50-59, 22.8% first became pregnant as teenagers, compared to 16.9% in women aged 20 – 29 years.

44. 20.2% of men and 16.9% of women had ever been diagnosed with a sexually transmissible infection or blood-borne virus

45. 2.0% and 2.2% respectively had been diagnosed in the last year.