Australia -- Population Contextual Associations With Heterosexual Partner Numbers: A Multilevel Analysis

The authors conducted this study to determine whether an individual's sexual behavior is associated with the demographic context in which they live. Data from a large behavioral survey were matched to the census, and the number of opposite sex partners individuals reported having in the year before interview was modeled against a suite of individual characteristics and analogous characteristics for the population in which they lived.

The investigators found that the number of partners reported (none, one, two, three or more) was variously associated with an individual's gender, age, marital status, sexual identity, and same-sex activity in the previous year. In addition, population age structure, sex ratio, and the proportion of the population reporting specific patterns of sexual activity were associated with individual behavior.

"This study demonstrates that population context is associated with individual behaviour even after individual characteristics have been taken into account," the authors concluded. "This suggests that multilevel modeling of sexual behaviour data can provide new insights into the pattern of sexual behavior."

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