Engage with the next wave of Britain’s National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles

• Published in: BMJ (Online) Vol. 366; p. l4721
• Main Authors: Mercer, Catherine H, Sonnenberg, Pam, Woode-Owusu, Melvina, Clifton, Soazig, Ridge, Mary-Clare
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BMJ Publishing Group LTD 26-07-2019
• Subjects: Aggression; Attitudes; Lifestyles; Medical research; Population studies; Pregnancy; Social research; England; United Kingdom > UK; Europe; Wales
• ISSN: 0959-8138; 1756-1833
• DOI: 10.1136/bmj.l4721

Sexually transmitted infection diagnoses continue to rise;1 teenage pregnancy rates, although falling,2 remain among the highest in Europe; and societal acknowledgment of the extent and consequences of sexual violence has shifted.3The BMJ recently published the latest output from Britain’s National Surveys of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal), which investigated changes in, and factors associated with, the frequency of sex in Britain,45 unpacking the finding of a decline in the frequency of sex originally published in the Lancet in 2013.6 This earlier paper documented changes in several sexual behaviours over time, the life course, and generations, reflecting the power of Natsal as large, probability sample, bio-behavioural surveys, representative of the British population. Work on the next wave of Natsal (Natsal-4) has just begun and is funded by a five year Wellcome Trust longitudinal population studies grant with contributions from the Economic and Social Research Council and the National Institute for Health Research. [...]report of session 2016-17.