Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Sexual Debut Ages in Heterosexual, Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Young Adults in Norway

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Sexuality & Culture Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study estimates sexual debut ages in young heterosexual, lesbian, gay, and bisexual men and women in Norway. A questionnaire survey was completed online by 27.2 % of a representative national web sample of 2090 persons aged 18–29 years. Three self-selected samples of 924 respondents completed an extended version of the survey online. Lesbian and bisexual women reported earlier experience of orgasm through masturbation than heterosexual women (median 13.1 vs. 15.2 years), and heterosexual men (median 13.5) reported earlier debut than heterosexual women. There was a statistically significant difference between heterosexual and lesbian and bisexual women’s age at the first experience of receptive vaginal sex (median 16.8 vs. 15.4 years). As regards experience of insertive vaginal sex, a significantly higher percentage of heterosexual men than women, and of heterosexual and lesbian and bisexual women, reported experience. It was more common among lesbian and bisexual women than heterosexual women to have had oral sex with another woman, but in neither group did the cumulative percent reach 50 % by the age of 29 years and the median could not be estimated. Gay and bisexual men reported earlier receptive anal sex debut than heterosexual men. With regard to insertive anal sex, gay and bisexual men accumulated experience earlier than heterosexual men, and lesbian and bisexual women acquired this experience earlier than heterosexual women. Compared to heterosexuals, LGB persons of both genders engage in more varied sexual activities. Lesbian and gay persons have same-sex experiences at an earlier age than bisexuals.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Danielsson, S. (2002). The propensity score and estimation in nonrandom surveys—an overview. Report no 18 from the project “Modern statistical survey methods”. Linköping: University of Linköping. Retrieved February 16th from http://www.statistics.su.se/modernsurveys/.

  • Haavio-Mannila, E., & Kontula, O. (2003). Sexual trends in the Baltic sea area. Helsinki: Publication of the Population Research Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halpern, C. T., & Kaestle, C. E. (2014). Sexuality in emerging adulthood. In D. L. Tolman & L. M. Diamond (Eds.), APA handbook of sexuality and psychology. Volume 1. Person-based approaches. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hellevik, O. (1999). Noen forskningsetiske problemer innenfor kvantitativ metode [Some ethical problems in research using quantitative methods]. In Etikk og metode [Ethics and method]. (Series 12, pp. 37–48). Oslo, Norway: The National Committees for Research Ethics Norway.

  • Helmius, G. (1990). Mogen för sex?! Det sexuellt restriktiviserande samhället och ungdomars heterosexuella glädje [Mature enough for sex?! The sexually restrictive society and adolescents’ heterosexual joy]. Thesis. Uppsala, Sweden: University of Uppsala.

  • Helmius, G. (2000). In the beginning. In B. Lewin (Ed.), Sex in Sweden. On the Swedish sexual life. Stockholm: National Institute of Public Health.

    Google Scholar 

  • Helmius, G. (2002). Psykosexuell utveckling i barna- och ungdomsåren [Psychosexual development in childhood and adolescence]. In P. O. Lundberg (Ed.), Sexologi [Sexology]. Liber AB: Stockholm.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hosmer, D. W., & Lemeshow, S. (1999). Applied survival analysis. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan, E. L., & Meier, P. (1958). Nonparametric-estimation from incomlete observations. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 53, 457–481.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kleinbaum, D. G. (1997). Survival analysis: A self-learning text. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kontula, O., & Haavio-Mannila, E. (1995). Sexual pleasures. Enhancement of sex life in finland 1971–1992. Vermont: Dartmouth Publishing Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewin, B., Fugl-Meyer, K., Helmius, G., Lalos, A., & Månsson, S. A. (2000). Sex in Sweden. On the Swedish sexual life. Stockholm: National Institute of Public Health.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewin, B., & Helmius, G. (1983). Ungdom och sexualitet; En sociologisk studie av ungdoms sexuella föreställingar och erfarenheter [Adolescents and sexuality; A sociological study of adolescents’ sexual beliefs and experiences]. Uppsala: Uppsala University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Månsson, S. A. (1997). Sexuella förhållanden mellan människor av samma kön [Sexual relationships between persons of the same gender]. In B. Lewin (Ed.), Sex i Sverige. Om sexuallivet i Sverige 1996 (pp. 169–183). Uppsala: Uppsala University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pedersen, W., & Samuelsen, S. O. (2003). Nye mønstre av seksualatferd blant ungdom [New patterns of sexual behavior among adolescents]. Tidsskrift for den norske legeforening, 123, 3006–3009.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pedersen, W., Samuelsen, S. O., & Wickstrøm, L. (2003). Sexual debut age: Poor resources, problem behavior or romantic appeal? A population-based longitudinal study. Journal of Sex Research, 40(4), 333–345.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Samuelsen, S. O., Wisøff, T. F., & Skrondal, A. (2005). A simple correction for ties when censoring times depend on covariates. Statistics in Medicine, 24, 3111–3121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Søgaard, A. J., Selmer, R., Bjertness, E., & Thelle, D. (2004). The Oslo health survey: The impact of self-selection in a large, population-based survey. International Journal for Equity in Health, 3(3), 1–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stigum, H. (1997). Mathematical models for the spread of sexually transmitted diseases using sexual behaviour data. Norwegian Journal of Epidemiology, 7(Suppl. 5).

  • Stigum, H., Samuelsen, S. O., & Træen, B. (2010). Analysis of coital debut in Norway. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 39, 907–914.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teitler, J. (2002). Trends in youth sexual initiation and fertility in developed countries: 1960–1995. Annals AAPSS, 580, 134–152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Træen, B. (1993). Norwegian adolescents’ sexuality in the era of AIDS. Empirical studies on heterosexual behaviour. Doctoral thesis. Oslo: University of Oslo.

  • Træen, B. & Samuelsen, S.O. (2007). Sweet 16 and never been kissed? Experiences from a longitudinal Norwegian study. Electronic Journal of Human Sexuality, 10, www.ejhs.org.

  • Træen, B., Stigum, H., & Magnus, P. (2003). Rapport fra seksualvaneundersøkelsene i 1987, 1992, 1997 og 2002 [Report from the sexual behavior surveys in 1987, 1992, 1997, and 2002]. Oslo: National Institute of Public Health.

    Google Scholar 

  • Træen, B., Stigum, H., & Sørensen, D. (2002). Sexual diversity in urban Norwegians. The Journal of Sex Research, 39, 249–258.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Træen, B., Štulhofer, A., & Landripe, I. (2011). Young and sexual in Norway and Croatia: Revisiting the Scandinavian vs. Mediterranean gendered pattern of sexual initiation. International Journal of Sexual Health, 23, 196–209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wellings, K., Wadsworth, J., & Johnson, A. (1994). Sexual diversity and homosexual behaviour. In A. M. Johnson, J. Wadsworth, K. Wellings, & J. Field (Eds.), Sexual attitudes and lifestyles (pp. 183–224). Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the University of Oslo.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Oslo, Post Box 1094, Blindern, 0317, Oslo, Norway

    Bente Træen & Katrina Roen

  2. Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Sven Ove Samuelsen

Authors
  1. Bente Træen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sven Ove Samuelsen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Katrina Roen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bente Træen.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

Author Bente Træen declares that she has no conflict of interest. Author Sven Ove Samuelsen declares that he has no conflict of interest. Author Katrina Roen declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

The study was presented to the Regional Committees for Medical and Health Research Ethics, and conducted under the oversight of the Norwegian Social Science Data Services Institutional Review Board. All procedures performed in the studies were in accordance with the ethical standards of the national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Træen, B., Samuelsen, S.O. & Roen, K. Sexual Debut Ages in Heterosexual, Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Young Adults in Norway. Sexuality & Culture 20, 699–716 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-016-9353-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-016-9353-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation