Sugar baby relationships have rose to prominence in recent years due to the popularity of sites such as Seeking Arrangements, which market themselves to young women, especially students, as an easy way to make money. Research published in the Journal of Sex Research studies the sexual risk behaviors associated with this type of relationship, including condom usage and STI prevalence.
Sugar dating is typically considered a mix between romantic relationships and sex work. While these arrangements can take many different forms, it is usually a sexually non-exclusive relationship between a wealthy older man and a younger, less financially secure woman. The man supports the woman financially in exchange for companionship and/or physical intimacy. Potential risks of people sexually involved with multiple partners has been well-studied in other populations, but there has been a lack of research on sexual risk behaviors of people involved in sugar dating specifically.
Study author Kimberley M. Kirkeby and her colleagues used multiple online methods to collect participants and ended up with 329 women in their sample, including 77 sugar dating women and 252 non-sugar dating women. There were no significant differences in demographic information between the two groups. Women involved in sugar dating were asked to rate the frequency of sexual contact with their sugar daddy, perception of power in the relationship, consistency of condom usage with sugar daddy, and STI history. Women who were not involved in sugar dating were asked similar questions about their sexual partners, excluding frequency of sexual contact and perceived power in relationships.
Descriptive results showed that the majority of sugar babies (72%) reported being involved with one or two sugar daddies at the time data was collected. The most common frequency of sexual contact between sugar babies and their sugar daddies was reported as 2-4 times a month. Similar to women in classic relationships, many sugar babies (43.3%) perceived themselves as having more power than their male counterpart.
Kirkeby and colleagues found that condom usage for sugar babies fell between usage for casual sex and committed romantic relationships, with no significant difference between any of these groups. But the researchers found large group differences in condom consistency between sugar babies who felt they had more power and sugar babies who felt their sugar daddy had more power.
Results about condom usage become even more relevant when considering STI rates. Overall, sugar babies were over 6.55 times more likely to have been tested for STIs than non-sugar dating women. Additionally, sugar babies were twice as likely to have an STI than non-sugar dating women.
A major limitation of this study is that the authors had a difficult time recruiting women involved in sugar dating as participants. With a small sample size, it is difficult to know if results would be generalizable to the sugar-dating community more broadly. This study also focused on a very narrow form of sugar dating involving younger woman and older men. It did not account for relationships involving members of the same-sex, similar age, or women providers.
The study, “Sugar Dating, Perceptions of Power, and Condom Use: Comparing the Sexual Health Risk Behaviours of Sugar Dating to Non-Sugar Dating Women“, was authored by Kimberley M. Kirkeby, Justin J. Lehmiller, and Michael J. Marks.