Characteristics of participants’ most recent opposite-sex partnerships in the past 3 months, by ethnic group and gender
| Men’s partnerships | Women’s partnerships | P for gender differences | ||||||
| BC men’s partnerships | WBI men’s partnerships | P for ethnic difference | BC women’s partnerships | WBI women’s partnerships | P for ethnic difference | Among BC attendees’ partnerships | Among WBI attendees’ partnerships | |
| Denominator (number of partnerships reported)* | 324 | 689 | 449 | 1041 | ||||
| Partnership type at most recent sex with the partner—5 categories | 0.001 | 0.028 | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||
| Married | 2.2% | 3.5% | 3.2% | 3.4% | ||||
| Committed relationship but not married | 23.9% | 22.7% | 45.8% | 39.4% | ||||
| Regular partners but not in a committed relationship | 35.4% | 20.7% | 32.3% | 26.2% | ||||
| Had recently met | 28.3% | 32.6% | 15.6% | 23.0% | ||||
| Had just met | 10.2% | 20.5% | 3.2% | 8.0% | ||||
| Partnership type at most recent sex with the partner—3 categories¶ | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||
| Committed (married +committed but unmarried) | 82 | 179 | 217 | 444 | ||||
| 26.1% | 26.2% | 49.0% | 42.8% | |||||
| Uncommitted regular (regular partners but not in a committed relationship) | 111 | 141 | 143 | 272 | ||||
| 35.4% | 20.7% | 32.3% | 26.2% | |||||
| Casual (recently met+just met) | 121 | 362 | 83 | 321 | ||||
| 38.5% | 53.1% | 18.7% | 31.0% | |||||
| Partnership duration (at most recent sex) † | 0.112 | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||
| <4 weeks | 35.1% | 35.2% | 23.1% | 24.1% | ||||
| 1–6 months | 36.5% | 42.9% | 29.1% | 39.8% | ||||
| >6 months | 28.4% | 21.9% | 47.8% | 36.2% | ||||
| By partnership type at most recent sex | ||||||||
| Committed | 0.085 | 0.098 | 0.190 | 0.546 | ||||
| <4 weeks | 18.7% | 8.4% | 10.2% | 6.9% | ||||
| 1–6 months | 29.3% | 28.6% | 19.4% | 27.5% | ||||
| >6 months | 52.0% | 63.0% | 70.4% | 65.6% | ||||
| Uncommitted regular | 0.125 | 0.151 | 0.728 | 0.250 | ||||
| <4 weeks | 21.5% | 17.4% | 18.4% | 11.4% | ||||
| 1–6 months | 40.9% | 56.0% | 40.8% | 57.9% | ||||
| >6 months | 37.6% | 26.6% | 40.8% | 30.7% | ||||
| Casual | 0.247 | 0.397 | 0.685 | 0.306 | ||||
| <4 weeks | 58.5% | 54.1% | 64.5% | 56.4% | ||||
| 1–6 months | 38.7% | 45.0% | 34.2% | 41.3% | ||||
| >6 months | 2.8% | 0.9% | 1.3% | 2.3% | ||||
| Expectation of sex again: Yes/probably ‡ | 58.3% | 46.2% | <0.001 | 69.1% | 60.5% | 0.004 | 0.016 | <0.001 |
| By partnership type at most recent sex | ||||||||
| Committed | 79.0% | 85.5% | 0.276 | 82.2% | 84.0% | 0.615 | 0.522 | 0.614 |
| Uncommitted regular | 65.0% | 62.0% | 0.566 | 65.4% | 64.6% | 0.745 | 0.937 | 0.372 |
| Casual | 36.9% | 21.4% | 0.007 | 43.2% | 23.9% | 0.003 | 0.115 | 0.319 |
| Non-use of condom at most recent sex | 58.7% | 64.2% | 0.158 | 67.5% | 68.6% | 0.758 | 0.088 | 0.207 |
| By partnership type at most recent sex | ||||||||
| Committed | 61.3% | 71.8% | 0.091 | 74.8% | 76.9% | 0.512 | 0.034 | 0.033 |
| Uncommitted regular | 62.4% | 65.2% | 0.677 | 64.8% | 67.0% | 0.686 | 0.655 | 0.726 |
| Casual | 54.7% | 60.7% | 0.321 | 55.7% | 58.7% | 0.584 | 0.892 | 0.722 |
| How they met the partner § | 0.427 | 0.005 | 0.070 | 0.003 | ||||
| School/college/university/work | 23.5% | 24.0% | 23.5% | 30.0% | ||||
| Social venue/public place/neighbour | 27.6% | 30.6% | 24.4% | 20.3% | ||||
| Through friends/family | 21.9% | 17.4% | 30.0% | 23.7% | ||||
| Online, including internet dating | 18.2% | 16.8% | 12.2% | 19.1% | ||||
| Other | 8.8% | 11.1% | 9.9% | 6.8% | ||||
*Denominators: partnerships reported by participants (SHC attendees) identifying as male, and who reported only female partners in the past year; and partnerships reported by participants identifying as female who reported only male partners in the past year. For categorical outcome variables, Pearson χ2 tests were used to calculate p values.
†Estimated from survey questions about recency of first, and of most recent sex.
‡Alternative responses included ‘I don’t know’ as well as ‘no’ and ‘probably not’.
§Categories in the table are based on a larger number of response options, as follows: school/college/university/work: ‘At school’, ‘At college/university’, ‘At work (or through work)’; social venue/public place/neighbour: ‘In a pub, bar, night club, disco, or dance’, ‘Through a sports club, faith group, or other organisation’, ‘Neighbour/lived locally/flat share’, ‘In a public place (eg, park, café, shop, public transport)’; through friends/family: ‘Introduced by friends or family’, ‘Had always known each other (eg, as family friends)’, ‘Arranged marriage’; online, including internet dating: ‘Internet dating website’, ‘Facebook’, ‘Twitter’, ‘Instagram’, ‘Pandora’, ‘WhatsApp’, ‘Other social media websites’, ‘Online but not through dating website or social media’; other: ‘On holiday or while travelling’, ‘Other dating agency/personal ads’, ‘Partner was a sex worker’, ‘Partner was my client’, ‘Other’.
¶Numbers in each category are italicised.
BC, Black Caribbean; SHC, sexual health clinic; WBI, White British/Irish.