Working on the chain gang

A team of researchers recently completed a study of sexual and romantic links at an un-named Midwestern high school. They tracked, logged, and diagrammed the bondings that the students reported in a six month period. There were approximately 1,000 students at the school, and just over 800 took part in the study. The diagram shows some very interesting information.

There were very few cases of promiscuity. (Just a handful of people showed 4 or more partners). There was little evidence of "sex parties", even though there were rumors flying around (like always).

There was one area of concern to health officials, however. There was a group (over 280 students) who were all linked together through the actions of themselves and their partners. Think about it, out of 800 students, 280 had shared a partner, who had shared a partner, etc. What a breeding ground for STDs.

Now, think about this: There were 63 instances of one couple staying together without any other partners. 63 monogamous pairings. That's kinda sweet.

So, I think that this is a great tool for educators to remind students: It's not who you sleep with, it's who they slept with. Every time you pair with someone you are pairing with every partner they've ever had. That's a lot of swapping.