This representative survey of sexual behaviour in the general population of America offers basic information about topics such as the transmission of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, child abuse, sexual harassment and sexual violence. Conducted by a research team centred at the University of Chicago, the National Health and Social Life Survey (NHSLS) was designed to determine not only incidence and prevalence of sexual practices, but also the social and psychological contexts in which they occur. Based on personal interviews with a probability sample of 3432 American women and men between the ages of 18 and 59, this study explores the extent to which sexual conduct and general attitudes toward sexuality are influenced by gender, age, marital status and other demographic characteristics. Some of the questions the researchers address include: how do social factors such as education, race, and religion affect sexual conduct?; how have American sexual patterns been changing?; how do women's and men's sexual lives and attitudes differ?; and how is sexual behaviour organized across the life course? Other topics covered by the survey include early sexual experiences, masturbation, contraception and fertility, sexual abuse, coercion, sexual health, satisfaction and sexual dysfunction. A wide variety of sexual practices and preferences are also explored in the questionnaire, including specific questions on homosexual desire, identity, and behaviour, the appeal of various sexual practices, and their frequency and incorporation into sexual lives. With many charts, graphs and tables, and a copy of the complete survey questionnaire, this work is intended to be of use as a reference for scientists, analysts and researchers seeking reliable information on the sexual practices of American adults.

Choices matter. And in your teens and twenties, some of the biggest life decisions come about when you feel the least prepared to tackle them. Economist Robert T. Michael won't tell you what to choose. Instead, he'll show you how to make smarter choices. Michael focuses on five critical decisions we all face about college, career, partners, health, and parenting. He uses these to demonstrate how the science of scarcity and choice concepts used to guide major business decisions and shape national legislation can offer a solid foundation for our own lives. Employing comparative advantage can have a big payoff when picking a job. Knowing how to work the marketplace can minimize uncertainty when choosing a partner. And understanding externalities the ripple of results from our actions can clarify the if and when of having children. Michael also brings in data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, a scientific sample of 18 million millennials in the United States that tracks more than a decade of young adult choices and consequences. As the survey's longtime principal investigator and project director, Michael shows that the aggregate decisions can help us understand what might lie ahead along many possible paths offering readers insights about how their own choices may turn out. There's no singular formula for always making the right choice. But the adaptable framework and rich data at the heart of The Five Life Decisions will help you feel confident in whatever you decide.

For the first time ever, Sex in America reveals the myth-shattering results of the only comprehensive and methodologically sound survey of America's sexual practices and beliefs. In 1992, highly regarded social scientists Robert T. Michael, John H. Gagnon, and Edward O. Laumann embarked on an unprecedented study of America's sex life. Working through the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, their staff of 220 interviewers spent seven months interviewing 3,432 scientifically selected respondents about all aspects of their sex lives, histories, and beliefs. More important, unlike the famous but inherently flawed reports of Alfred Kinsey, Redbook and Playboy magazines, Shere Hite, Samuel and Cynthia Janus, and others, this survey relied on a random sample of Americans rather than on an unrepresentative group of volunteers. The resulting data reveal not just what we do sexually but how society shapes even our most private sexual experiences. They show not just why we are the way we are, but what it might take to change this behavior. Sure to arouse considerable controversy, the survey directly contradicts many of the conclusions of previous reports and defies widely held conventional wisdom about America's sexual practices and beliefs, with startling revelations about how often people have sex, how many partners they have, and where they meet them; the likelihood that the AIDS epidemic will spread into the heterosexual population; what people like to do in bed; how many Americans are homosexual; the incidence of forced sex; and why some people are more satisfied with their sex lives than others. After years of misleading statistics and unsubstantiated claims, Sexin America presents a comprehensive, reliable look at America's collective sex life, the definitive word on American sexuality today.

The Social Organization of Sexuality, a report on the nation's most comprehensive representative survey of sexual behavior in the general population to date, finally offers that basic information. Conducted by a research team centered at the University of Chicago, the National Health and Social Life Survey (NHSLS) was designed to determine the incidence and prevalence of sexual practices and to place them in their social contexts. Based on personal interviews with a probability sample of 3,432 American women and men between the ages of 18 and 59, undertaken by the National Opinion Research Center, this study explores the extent to which sexual conduct and general attitudes toward sexuality are influenced by gender, age, marital status, and other demographic characteristics. The results of this survey both allow us to better understand how sexual behavior is organized in American society, and offer significant implications for policymakers struggling with many of the nation's crucial health problems. In exploring the rate of new partner formation, for example, the researchers discovered that about 80% of American adults had only one or no sexual partner in the past year. By concentrating AIDS awareness information on the 20% of the population that had two or more partners. AIDS strategists would be better able to target and persuade this segment of the population to modify their sexual behavior. Other topics covered by the survey include early sexual experiences, masturbation, contraception and fertility, abortion, sexual abuse, coercion, sexual health, satisfaction, and sexual dysfunction. A wide variety of sexual practices and preferences are also explored in the questionnaire, including specific questions on homosexual desire, identity, and behavior, the appeal of various sexual practices, and their frequency and incorporation into sexual lives.