Researchers Map the Sexual Network of an Entire High School

[JI7]

<Newswise — For the first time, sociologists have mapped the romantic and sexual relationships of an entire high school over 18 months, providing evidence that these adolescent networks may be structured differently than researchers previously thought.

The results showed that, unlike many adult networks, there was no core group of very sexually active people at the high school. There were not many students who had many partners and who provided links to the rest of the community.

Instead, the romantic and sexual network at the school created long chains of connections that spread out through the community, with few places where students directly shared the same partners with each other. But they were indirectly linked, partner to partner to partner. One component of the network linked 288 students – more than half of those who were romantically active at the school – in one long chain. (See figure for a representation of the network.)

James Moody, co-author of the study and professor of sociology at Ohio State University, said this network could be compared to rural phone lines, running from a long main trunk line to individual houses. As a comparison, many adult sexual networks are more like an airline hub system where many points are connected to a small number of hubs.

“We went into this study believing we would find a core model, with a small group of people who are sexually active,” Moody said. “We were surprised to find a very different kind of network.”

The results have implications for designing policies to stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases among adolescents, he said.>

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/509380/

[aden_nak]

1. Any kid in high school could have told them that (I sure could have then).

But interesting none the less.

[Igel]

5. I couldn't have when I was in high school.

There was this belief that certain kids were very, very promiscuous (not the word used, by any means). I remember near universal shock when one notorious stud wound up in a long-term relationship. Rumors were that he was constantly stepping out on his steady.

Some other girls could be gotten to put out, but not usually; and others simply never would.

Denials were universally rejected.

In hindsight, it's likely that much of it wasn't true. (Since the one's imputed frequency of being bedded probably had to do with looks and prominence in sports.)

edit: Needless to say, this is a cool study. The exact opposite of how language changes propagate.

[struggle4progress]

7. When I was in high school, I was shocked to learn that ...

... many of the rumors about student sexuality were actually being spread by parents. Some of these rumors may actually have originated with parents.

[Igel]

14. What an intriguingly subversive idea. n/t

[Demeter]

2. This Is So Lame

Since the disease must come from adults not within the school system, the way to stop the spread of disease is obvious---

"But then, public health was never a GOP concern. Just controlling people's lives.

[Beam Me Up]

11. I both agree and don't.

A high school is not exactly a closed system through which a community of adolescents passes. It may very well be that a particular STD was introduced into the population from an adult outside the system but once introduced that STD can be passed on from 'grade to grade' within the system for who knows how long. Moreover, it is not uncommon for students from one school to have sexual partners from another school or for older students to have relations with older young adults who have graduated, etc.

In any case, I do certainly agree the primary concern for monitoring sexual behavior is social control, not public health.

[liberal N proud]

3. I would be curious, where they school was.

It said the name of the school was changed and it was a mid size city, more than an hour from a major metropolitan area.
Just curious.

[THUNDER HANDS]

4. to me, this is the most interesting aspect

“Many of the students only had one partner. They certainly weren’t being promiscuous. But they couldn’t see all the way down the chain.”

The surprising thing about the network at Jefferson High was the near absence of cycling –- situations in which people have relationships with others close to them on the network, Moody said.

The lack of cycling seems traceable to rules that adolescents have about who they will not date. The teens will not date (from a female perspective) one’s old boyfriend’s current girlfriend’s old boyfriend. This would be considered taking “seconds” in a relationship.

“If you break up with someone, you may want to get as away from them as possible in your next relationship. You don’t want to be connected to them in some way by dating someone with a close relationship,” Moody said.

The practical result from such a rule is that no cores form, and that long, chain-like networks form instead. That has important implications for preventing the spread of STDs in teenage populations, according to Moody, Bearman and Stovel.

Apparently the fear of 'sloppy seconds' helps prevent STD's. Who knew? ;)

[Old Mouse]

6. It is ridiculous to draw these sort of conclusions

from the study of just one school. The extreme economic and ethnic diversity of our country make such blanket assessments premature at best.

[HoosierClarkie]

8. It would be interesting

to see more schools and their networking. Culture is a huge variable when studying sexual behavior in highschools.

[BR_Parkway]

9. And the gay/bi students were 100% honest? n/t

[KittyWampus]

10. And The Hetereosexual Ones Were?

:shrug:

It's just interesting to see a start here.

I guess any study of human behavior has the potential for misinformation to be put into the data.

[koopie57]

12. what a novel idea!

a sex study on people rather than cartoon characters.

[yellowcanine]

13. I guess I was literally "out of the loop" when I was in HS. I don't know

if I should be happy or sad. Who knows? Is teenage sex all that great or is it a lot of fumbling around followed by regret and disappointment?

[enki23]

15. that was, of course, one high school.

.

[GiovanniC]

16. The Only Girl I Ever Had Sex With In High School

Went to another high school.

But at my school at least, there was a group of maybe 10-20 guys and 10-20 girls who were considered very popular (football/basketball and cheerleaders, mainly). And those guys dated each other and traded and everything... I can't say 100% if it was sexual relationships, but definitely the whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing. THEIR network would have looked like a spiderweb.

[LeftHander]

17. great....now I understand

why I couldn't get laid when I was in high school....


I thought it was because I was an obnoxious little shit...


lol

[AP]

18. So how is high school different from the adult world? Here's how:

In high school, you spend all day, nights and weekends with the same people. High school is like a huge office that takes up way more of your time than 9-5 weekdays.

In the real world, people work in smaller offices (on average), and you work with people who might live very far from the office, and you have friends from different parts of your life with whom you are probably more likely to spend your time with at night and on the weekends.

I think people generally don't like having sex with people they work with. You might want to have sex with people you work with because you get to know them, but the knowledge that the work relationship will have to continue after the sexual relationship is a big disincentive to actually having sex with people you have to see every day. So these adult hubs are forming around places other than the work place: they form around bars, or you're sleeping with friends your friends hook you up with -- people with whom you don't work. Because you don't have to see these people 9-5 on weekdays, you lose that disincentive to having romantic relationships.

In high school, of course you want to have sex, but you want to avoid having multiple, temporary partners coming out of a pool of people you'll have to spend all your time with even after you stop having sex. So, in HS, you tend to engage in behaviour that strings out your network. You still get strings 288 people long, but you set things up so that you don't have the sense that it reaches out that far.

[Lisa]

19. plus, the more you see of people ...

... the less "mystique" they have -- and the more aware you are of any disagreeable characteristics. (If you see a co-worker being rude to a subordinate, or making racist or sexist comments, you might think twice about dating him/her.) Comparing my workday with what I recall from high school, I've learned a lot more about people in my workplace from their unguarded comments, etc., than I did about people in my high school (or even college) classes.

Not that high-school students don't also have outbursts, but they tend to have authority figures hovering over them most of the day, policing their behavior.

[AP]

20. Too true. How many times have you had a crush on co-workers you just meet

only to be friends with them months later, shocked that you ever had romantic feelings about them?

In HS, some of those people you've known since you were 5.