“In Their Prime:” Sexual Risk Behavior among Men in Their 30s

Nan M. Astone, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Joseph H. Pleck, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Jacinda K. Dariotis, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Arik V. Marcell, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Mark Emerson, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Sam Shapiro, Johns Hopkins University
Freya Sonenstein, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

We examine three indicators of risky sexual behavior (multiple partners, risky partners, and concurrency) among 1083 men in their thirties who have been followed since adolescence. Levels of sexual risk behavior were low in this population, but not uniformly so. We found that men in a co-residential sexual union, particularly those who are married, exhibited lower levels of sexual risk behavior than those who were single. We take advantage of our longitudinal data to test three hypotheses about why being in a co-residential union is associated with low levels of sexual risk behavior. We find little evidence that positive selection into unions is an explanation for the association. There is some evidence for hypotheses that role socialization takes place within marriage to lower risk and also that part of the explanation is due to partner monitoring.