Oral sex: varied behaviors and perceptions in a college population

Journal of Sex Research, Feb, 2007 by Wendy C. Chambers

Methods

Procedure

Between June and December of 2004, a sample of 2,147 college students at the University of Georgia aged 18 years or older completed an online survey about oral sex to achieve research participation credit. Only students in introductory psychology courses were invited to take the survey. Participants initially viewed an informed consent page that explained that intimate questions pertaining to oral sex would be the focus of the survey. They were informed that they would not be penalized for choosing not to take the survey or not finishing it, but they had to finish it to receive credit. Student consent was accounted for by their choice to proceed with the survey.

Once students completed the survey, they would click on an electronic button to submit their answers, which would also produce a pop-up page with feedback about their performance on the knowledge section of the survey. This page also contained a debriefing: "Please read the debriefing section below and then BE SURE TO CLICK ON THE "Click here to receive Research Participation Credit" button THAT FOLLOWS OR YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE CREDIT FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION. Although the answers to the survey were anonymous, students submitted their names to a separate database to receive credit after completing the survey. Every other week the researcher would download the name database and award students credit online through the university's online system. Thus, the data and the names were kept completely separate.

Measures

A survey was constructed to asses the nature, knowledge, and gender differences in oral sex behavior (see the Appendix). No identifying information was collected, only demographics. The variables were organized in the following domains:

Demographics. Participants provided information about their gender, race, sexual orientation, and age.

General sexual behavior/attitudes. General behavioral questions were asked regarding whether the participants had had intercourse before, whether the participants considered themselves virgins, and the number of intercourse partners in the past year and lifetime. Intercourse was defined as penetration by a sexual organ--the data indicate that participants correctly understood this definition to mean penetration of or by a sexual organ--see the Discussion section for complete explanation.

Oral sex. Survey items measured the intimacy of oral sex and intercourse on 5-point Likert-type scales (1 = not at all intimate and 5 = extremely intimate). Participants were asked how often they protected themselves while giving or receiving oral sex and what type of protection they used. They were given choices to select ("Check all that apply") as well as a text box and always had the option to choose that they did not engage in oral sex. "Check all that apply" was also offered for the type of relationship in which participants felt comfortable giving and receiving oral sex and the most typical reason for giving/receiving oral sex. The perception of whether oral sex was given more, received more, or exchanged equally was also assessed as well as when the participants last gave oral sex. See the Appendix for further details.