title: Online Sexual Activity Experiences Among College Students: A Four-Country Comparison.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to compare male and female college students in four countries (Canada, Germany, Sweden, and the U.S.) on their lifetime experiences (prevalence) and frequency of recent experiences with six types of online sexual activities (OSA): sexual information, sexual entertainment, sexual contacts, sexual minority communities, sexual products, and sex work. Participants (N = 2690; M age, 24.65 years; 53.4 % women, 46.6 % men) were recruited from a university in each of the countries to complete an online survey that included background and demographic questions, and questions about OSA. Most participants reported experience with accessing sexual information (89.8 %) and sexual entertainment (76.5 %) online. Almost half (48.5 %) reported browsing for sexual products, and a substantial minority reported having engaged in cybersex (30.8 %). Very few participants (1.1 %) paid for online sexual services or received payment (0.5 %). In general, participants showed relatively infrequent experience with all types of OSA within the last 3 months. Men showed both higher prevalence and frequency of use of sexually stimulating material online than did women. However, this gender gap was smaller than in previous studies. Country and gender by country effects were (with one exception) either very small or non-existent, suggesting that, overall, students in the four countries were similar in their OSA experiences. Results are discussed in light of an emerging global net generation and globalized sexual culture.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Media and Communication Science, Ilmenau University of Technology, Ehrenbergstraße 29, 98693, Ilmenau, Germany. nicola.doering@tu-ilmenau.de.
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Döring
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Work, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Kristian
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Daneback
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Krystelle
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shaughnessy
authors.affiliation: Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of CUNY, The Center for HIV/AIDS Educational Studies and Training, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Grov
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, Canada.
authors.forename: E Sandra
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Byers
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002170:Canada; D004882:Erotica; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D011477:Sex Work; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden; D014481:United States; D014495:Universities
keywords: College students; Cybersex; Internet; Online sexual activity; Sexual experience