New research published in The Journal of Sex Research has found a relationship between cognitive ability and the experiences of vaginal, oral, and anal sex in adolescents and young adults.
The study was based on 13,845 respondents who participated in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, a nationally-representative sample of U.S. teens followed from adolescence into adulthood.
The researchers found those of lower cognitive abilities were less likely to experience each type of sexual behavior by early adulthood compared to their more intelligent peers. At the other end of the intelligence spectrum, those of the highest cognitive ability also had lower odds of experiencing vaginal intercourse compared to the average person. But they were just as likely to have experienced oral and anal sex.
PsyPost interviewed the study’s corresponding author, Nicole F. Kahn of UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Read her responses below:
PsyPost: Why were you interested in this topic?
Kahn: My research focuses on sexual behavior patterns and related health outcomes from adolescence to early adulthood in the United States. I am particularly interested in understanding how sexuality and sexual health may differ for populations with disabilities, who have historically been subjected to social marginalization and unfounded assumptions regarding their sexuality. This particular paper is a preliminary study focused on the relationship between cognitive ability and sexual experiences, which I hope will serve as a foundation for future sexuality research in populations with disabilities.
What should the average person take away from your study?
Sexual experiences differ across the cognitive ability spectrum. In particular, those with the lowest cognitive ability scores in adolescence often are less sexually experienced by early adulthood compared to their average ability peers. Further, a larger proportion of this group reports not knowing if they have experienced each type of sex. While being in the low cognitive ability group does not mean one has an intellectual disability, such results have important implications for the ways in which sexuality information and education programs are provided to adolescents with special needs.
We also found that people in the highest cognitive ability group had lower odds of experiencing vaginal sex, but not oral or anal sex, compared to the average group. We thought that these folks might perceive greater risks associated with vaginal sex (e.g., unintended pregnancy) compared to the other sexual behaviors. More research on their attitudes towards different types of sex might help us to better understand the reasons for these differences.
Are there any major caveats? What questions still need to be addressed?
One of the biggest limitations of this research is our use of the Add Health Picture Vocabulary Test (AHPVT) to measure cognitive ability. Although it is comparable to other cognitive ability measures like the IQ test, the AHPVT is limited because it only focuses on vocabulary skills and neglects other dimensions of cognitive ability. We also can’t ignore how a vocabulary test like the AHPVT might favor those of higher socioeconomic status, since higher vocabulary scores may be more strongly related to better education than to innate ability. Considering other dimensions of cognitive ability and focusing more specifically on those with diagnosed intellectual disabilities will be critical to future research in this field.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Very few studies focus on the sexuality of populations with disabilities in the United States, and those that do are often limited by small samples that are not representative at a population level. Our data were from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), which is a large, nationally representative sample of adolescents who have been followed for 15 years (and counting!). This amazing dataset gives us an opportunity to ask and answer important questions about the health of minority groups, like those with disabilities, who are generally underrepresented in research. In the future, I hope that we can continue to use such representative datasets to help us get to the root of health disparities in the United States.
The study, “”, was also co-authored by Carolyn Tucker Halpern.