Study: 2% of husbands cheat

ONE-in-50 married men cheated on their wife in a 12-month period.

Overall a quarter of men have had sex with more than 10 people throughout their life — compared with just 6.2% of women.

And one-in-five women did not have sex in the 12 months examined as part of the Irish Study of Sexual Health and Relationships.

It interviewed 7,441 adults in 2004/2005 and found that while Irish people are becoming more promiscuous we are still less inclined to sleep around than other countries.

Three comprehensive sub-reports from the study were published yesterday and revealed our attitudes to sex are in significant flux.

The reports said while Ireland had traditionally been less likely to have had multiple sexual partners than other countries, this had changed.

Today those under the age of 35 were just as promiscuous as their peers abroad and the study said this had significant public health implications.

“Compared to the UK, US, France and Australia, Irish people were more likely to report a single partner over their lifetime so far.

“However, analysis of partnership patterns over more recent periods and by age group showed younger Irish people have largely converged with their peers.

“As in other countries, the emergence of larger numbers of young Irish people with a high number of partners points to the development of an important sub-population at risk from the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs).”

More than one-third of men and 16.4% of women aged 18-24 had more than one partner, compared with 4% of men and 0.2% of women aged 55-64.

Overall 40% of study respondents regarded casual sex as “always wrong”.

And the study also highlighted other risky habits engaged in by young people. 38% of men and approximately 20% of women under the age of 30 lost their virginity while drunk or on drugs.

However, while age, gender and marriage status affected promiscuity the most influential factor on people’s attitudes was the strength of their religious beliefs.

The survey also revealed a strong desire among people to have access to more information about how to make their sex-life more satisfying.

This was particularly true among men aged between 18-24 and men working in skilled trades.

In another section it revealed three times more men have had gay sex compared with women who had lesbian sexual contact.

It said 4.4% of men had sexual intercourse with another man, while 1.4% of women have had a same-sex physical relationship.

However, the survey warned the framing of the questions will underestimate the number of gay men and women in Ireland because the definition used focused solely on types of sexual activity rather than preference.

It did find men who had more than one same-sex partner were likely to be more promiscuous than other sections of society.