Sexual behaviour of Italian students

The population we have taken into consideration places this study among the several studies on sexuality – especially in the Anglo-Saxon area, see, e.g., Sherwin and Corbett (1985) Sprecher and Regan (1996) – in which samples of university students were involved. Although our choice is within well-established literature, we have to be aware that we are dealing with a sub-population of Italian youth. Yet, our data have some interesting qualities: 1) a low rate of refusal and non-response; 2) high sample size; 3) samples drawn from a specific national sub-population: students in their 1st and 2nd year of Economics and Statistics in Italian State Universities, attending lessons in the academic year 2000-01; 4) sexual behaviour which does not differ much from that of Italian youth with a high-school diploma. The characteristics described at point (1) and (2) are desirable in every sample survey. Besides, thanks to the ones at point (3), by analyzing the data we could – cautiously – use the usual tools of statistical inference. Finally, the characteristic at point (4) and the post-weight system enable us to give a substantial meaning to descriptive indicators. We believe that our results, although referring to a sub-population, can to a certain degree inform us of the sexual behaviour of the children of the Italian middle and upper middle classes, having their sexual socialisation in Italy at the end of the 20th century