Survey: Students Today Less Liberal About Sex

One-night stands and extramarital affairs may have been hip in the minds of many college students of the 1960s, but a recent study indicates that undergraduates today are much more conservative in their sexual outlook.

And according to counselors at Harvard's Peer Contraceptive Counseling service, Harvard students are part of this nationwide trend.

Almost half of a group of college students surveyed in 1966 said that "occasional one-night stands" were acceptable. But only 19 percent of the 2600 undergraduates who participated in Forbes Magazine's recent follow-up survey approved of such activity. The survey, which will be published in the February 24 issue of the magazine, was excerpted in yesterday's edition of USA Today.

Twice as many students condoned extramarital affairs in 1966 than do now, the survey showed. While 27.3 percent of college students polled in 1966 thought occasional cheating was okay, only 13.6 percent of today's undergraduates approve.

"There is a conservative trend, especially regarding one-night stands and multiple partners," said Kathryn B. Freeman '87, the co-director of Harvard's Peer Contraceptive Counseling service. "Our generation is much more conservative in general, and that has to include sexuality."

The contraceptive counseling group is a University Health Services-funded service staffed by undergraduates who handle student questions and concerns about sex. They often hold advising sessions for freshman proctor groups.

Freeman said that in these meetings, freshmen are asking more conservative questions about birth control, abortion and other sex-related issues than have groups in the past. She added that the change in attitude was apparent throughout the entire undergraduate community

General conservative attitudes are not the only explanation for the trend, according to peer counselor Barbara S. Okun '86.

"I think that one reason there is a sort ofconservative trend is an explosion in the mediaabout Herpes, AIDS, and other sexually transmitteddiseases," Okun said.

"Because of fears people have about sexuallytransmitted diseases, they may be more hesitant toengage in casual sex," Okun said. "People reallyare afraid, maybe unduly afraid, because the mediamay be making [sexually transmitted diseases] moreof an issue than they really are."

The AIDS epidemic in particular is an issue ofincreasing concern to students, Freeman added,saying, "We have a lot of questions about that."

Also revealed in the Forbes study was the factthat almost a third of the students recentlysurveyed thought their parents' generation was"too promiscuous." However, less than one percentthought their own parents fit this description