One-third of American women aged 20–44 are single, and nine in 10 of these women are sexually experienced, according to "Sexual Behavior of Single Adult American Women," by Laura Duberstein Lindberg et al., published in the March 2008 issue of Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. While the rate of sexual experience among single women has remained virtually unchanged since the late 1980s, the median age at first marriage rose from 22.0 in 1980 to 25.3 years in 2002; as a result, women are sexually active for a longer period of time before getting married.

"For the majority of adult women, living without a partner does not mean living without sex," says study author Laura Lindberg. "Yet policymakers continue to promote policies that fly in the face of reality. By neglecting to teach our youth how to protect themselves against unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, we leave them ill prepared to become sexually healthy adults."

The new study analyzes data from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth. The analysis found that single women are more likely to have had multiple sexual partners in the past year (22%) than are cohabiting or married women (9% and 2%, respectively). Furthermore, more than one-quarter of single women with multiple partners never used condoms over the past year, and more than half used them inconsistently.

The authors argue that government policies such as abstinence-only education—which advocates abstinence until marriage for all women aged 12–29—ignore the actual behaviors of the majority of Americans. Since the 1950s, about 90% of Americans have engaged in premarital sexual activity. Policies that fail to acknowledge that reality at best are unlikely to be effective and at worst actually put women’s health at risk.

Also in this issue:

Abortion in the United States: Incidence and Access to Services, 2005, by Rachel Jones et al;

Older Sexual Partners During Adolescence: Links to Reproductive Health Outcomes in Young Adulthood, by Suzanne Ryan et al;

The Impact of Programs to Increase Contraceptive Use Among Adult Women: A Review of Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Studies, by Douglas Kirby; and

Effects of a School-Based, Theory-Driven HIV and Pregnancy Prevention Curriculum, by Rick S. Zimmerman et al.