In 1987, facing a devastating AIDS outbreak, the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services called for researchers to study the sexual attitudes and practices of American adults. A group of researchers from the University of Chicago—Edward Laumann, John Gagnon, Robert Michael, and Stuart Michaels—were selected to coordinate this national study of over 20,000, and funding was provided. Unfortunately, financial support was pulled in 1991 by legislation introduced to eliminate federal funding for studies about sexuality.
However, Laumann and his colleagues found private funding and continued their research, although with a significantly reduced sample size. A representative sample of 4,369 Americans between the ages of 18 and 59 years was randomly selected and yielded a 79% response rate. A total sample population of 3,432 was used in the final analysis of data. All respondents were interviewed face-to-face, supplemented with brief questionnaires. The NHSLS was the most comprehensive study of sexual attitudes and behaviors since Kinsey, and because the researchers used better sampling procedures, this study has been viewed as the most comprehensive, scientifically accurate sexuality study in the United States (Laumann et al., 1994).
Preliminary data revealed that Americans were more sexually conservative than previously thought. The majority of people were found to have sex a few times a month or less and have three sex partners over a lifetime. The results also indicated the sexual choices that people make are restricted by their social networks (e. g., friends and family). Among the findings:
• The median number of sexual partners since the age of 18 was 6 for men and 2 for women.
• 75% of married men and 80% of married women did not engage in extramarital sexuality.
• 2.8% of men and 1.4% of women described themselves as homosexual or bisexual.
• 75% of men claimed to have consistent orgasms with their partners, whereas 29% of women did.
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More than 1 in 5 women said they had been forced by a man to do something sexual.
• 1.4% of women and 2.8% of men identified themselves as homosexual.
In many of the following chapters, we will explore various findings of this important study in more detail.