A statistician friend of mine has given me permission to publish a few preliminary results from a study he has been performing into sexual attitudes of young adults (aged around 18). The study pays particular attention to the level of impact, if any, that education and academic performance have on those attitudes.

Methodology

A total of 1000 questionnaires were sent to 4 tertiary education colleges and sixth forms in 4 different parts of England: Bridgwater (in Somerset), London, Manchester and Leeds. They were issued to students during tutorial or social studies lessions, and the students were asked to complete and return them anonymously. A total of 619 responses were received. Apart from their answers to the questions outlined below, the only personal information obtained about each individual student was their gender (male or female), orientation (gay, straight or bi), age on 01/06/07, and the name of the academic institution they attend. The survey only counted results from respondents who considered themselves heterosexual.

Before I proceed with the results, it may be necessary to define some terms for the benefit of any overseas readers. In England, compulsory education ends at the age of 16, when students generally sit exams in approximately 10 subjects for the qualification of ‘General Certificate of Secondary Education’ (GCSE). All but the very least academically inclined students progress to tertiary education - for most, that means the ‘A-Level’ qualification (which is taken in around 3 subjects), but there are also other options, some of which are equally as respected as the A-Level, but many are seen as vocational employment training for weaker students (we’re talking hairdresser certifications here…). Whatever type of qualification the student chooses to pursue, 99% last for two years, and take them up to the age of 18. All of the students questioned as part of this survey were near the second year of their course.

Anyway, for the purposes of this survey, students were allocated an academic achievement score based upon their performance in three core subjects: Mathematics, Science and English Language. Note that the vast majority of students now take a combined ‘Science’ GCSE that combines topics from both pure sciences (physics, chemistry, etc.) and applied sciences (one of which is laughably referred to as ‘the science of sport’, but that’s another topic entirely). GCSEs have eight passing grades: A* (pronounced ‘A star’), A, B, C, D, E, F and G. An A* was deemed worthy of 8 points, an A of 7 points, and so on in that fashion until a grade G becomes worth 1 point, and a fail worth 0. So, a student with A* grades in all three subjects is allocated 24 academic achievement points, while one with a C, a D and an E is allocated 12. As a rule, grades C and above are considered ‘good’ passes, so, in this survey, a ‘minimally competent’ student would get 15 points.

Results

One thing I should probably point out that I don’t have access to the individual responses, only the summary data that has been e-mailed to me. With that in mind, we can proceed to the first question.

1. Are you a virgin?

This question left it entirely up to the respondent to decide the exact meaning of the word ‘virgin’ - i.e. some may consider themselves virgins only if they have never engaged in full intercourse, whereas others may consider other activities such as oral sex to be ‘de-virginizing’.

Essentially, this is the theme of the whole article so unless you are particularly interested, you may as well stop reading here :-P. Basically, the more intelligent students were more likely to be virgins at the age of 18 than their less intelligent peers. One thing that struck me as particularly interesting, though, was that the trend looks much stronger amongst females than males:

Yes, it’s blue for boys, pink for girls. Please, don’t bother with the gender-traitor hate-spam. Thanks.

2. How many sexual partners have you had?

The data for this question includes results from respondents who claimed to be virgins in response to Question 1. This is because the ambiguous use of the word ‘virgin’ might mean that someone who considers themselves a virgin because they have not experienced actual intercourse could easily count someone with whom they have, for example, performed or received oral sex as a ’sexual partner’.

Reactions

Without meaning to paint myself as either a paragon of virtue nor a prude, I have to admit that the thing that struck me most about these results was the amount of sex that teenagers are having nowadays. Of course, my surprise probably stems largely from the fact that I attended an all-girls school, and didn’t lose my virginity until my second year at University, so I am hardly representative of the majority of students.

Turning to the data itself, as I have already mentioned, I don’t have access to the full data set or any more summary data than is presented here. That means that I am very much looking forward to the full publication of this study, and would like to offer my congratulations to all involved. For the time being, though, my observations can be summarised as follows:

• On the surface, it seems that the stereotypical view of the brainy geek with big glasses and no sex life is still at least partially valid. However, I hope that the final publication includes a subject-by-subject breakdown of the results.

• It is fascinating that the correlation between academic performance and virginity is much more pronounced amongst girls than boys. I think that there is still a tendency for virginity to be seen as a virtuous state for a girl, especially amongst those born into a higher social standing, whereas an adult male virgin tends to be looked down upon regardless of class distinction. Yes, I know I’m assuming that academic performance is linked to social standing, but, as unfortunate as it is, this is still largely the case

The only potential issue I have with the survey itself is that only inviting students at further education colleges and sixth forms to take part must, presumably, have meant that the number of respondents coming from a background of very poor academic achievement must be tiny - I would be surprised if each institution had more than three or four students who didn’t manage to pass at least one GCSE.