[rvedd001]

Here we are with more of my findings.

Marital status and desire to swing-

Of the married participants, both sexes (Males=48.2%, Females= 49.2%) primarily responded that their marital status does not influence their desire to swing. The unmarried participants (Males=100.0%, Females=83.5%) additionally reported that getting married would not affect their desire to swing.

How swinging impacts the romantic relationship-

Participants were asked what about the swing lifestyle influences their relationship both positively and negatively. For positive influences to the relationship, the most frequent positive influence to the relationship for both sexes was that by participating in swinging, they are adding to their partnership (Males=82.6%, Females=72.4%), followed by swinging benefits their sexuality (Males=24.6%, Females=29.8%). For negative influences to the relationship, the most frequent negative influence to the relationship for both sexes was the orphan category that included “nothing,” (Males=48.4%, Females=72.2%), which was followed by internalized negative affects (i.e., jealousy, fear of STI) for both men (28.5%) and women (38.9%).

Remaining in the lifestyle-

Regarding the length of time the participants’ intend to remain in the lifestyle, the two most frequent responses for males and females were that participant’s intended to swing as long as there as some benefit or pleasure to swinging (Males = 83.0%, Females = 49.9%), or that that they intended to swing for a certain period of time, such as until their death (Males = 54.8%, Females = 53.7%).

Safe behaviors and attitudes-

To assess how frequently participants use precautionary measures to protect themselves against STIs and HIV transmission, a 5-point question response option ranging from “every time” to “never” was given. Only a small percentage (.7%) of the sample did not respond to this question. Most of the sample reported using precautions every time (52.4%), followed by most times (23.4%), sometimes (13.8%), rarely (8.3%), and never (1.4%). No gender differences were found in use of precautionary measures.

The majority (72.4%) of participants reported that they had been voluntarily tested for STIs and HIV since they had begun swinging, whereas slightly more than a quarter (27.6%) of the sample reported that they had not. No gender differences were found in getting tested.

Most of the sample reported having never been diagnosed with any type of sexually transmitted infection (85.5%). No gender differences were found in STI infection diagnosis.

The majority of the sample reported some fear (54.5%) of transmission of HIV, AIDS, and sexually transmitted infections. This was followed by moderate fear at (29.0%), high fear at (10.3%), and lastly no fear of transmission at (6.2%).

Precautions taken to address fear of disease and infection transmission revealed that the most frequent precautions taken by both sexes (Males=77.9%, Females=86.7%) are reducing the transfer of body fluid by the use of condoms and other means, followed by being conscientious about the selection of partners through a variety of means, such as selecting partners that appear to practice good hygiene and being very selective about the type of sexual partner that is acceptable to swing with (Males=37.4%, Females=53.7%).

Defining commitment-

Finally, to define what commitment means within a swing population, participants provided personal descriptions and definitions for how they define commitment. The most frequent aspect of commitment that was endorsed by both sexes was feeling positive emotions and psychological attachment (Males=67.9%, Females=70.4%), followed by the merging of lives (Males=42.7%, Females=40.3%).

These are my major findings. I think there are some really positive things here!

Thanks,

Rachel