Sociosexuality and sexwith new partners: Indirect effects via drinking at parties and bars

Objective: The desire for manynovel,concurrent, uncommitted sex partners (i.e., unrestricted sociosexuality) may encourage individuals to seek out contexts that facilitate casual sex. We tested a model in which the effects of sociosexuality on sex with new partners were mediated via drinking in specific contexts. We hypothesized that drinking at parties and bars, which are known to facilitate casual sex(but not drinking at home), would contribute to sex with new (but not with previous) partners. Method: Participants were 427malefreshmen from alarge, public northeasternuniversity. Theycompletedabaseline survey in their first semester followed by56days ofdaily reports on drinking andsexual activity duringtheir second semester. Results: As predicted, sociosexuality measured at baseline positively predicted occasions of sexwithanewpartner, butnot sexwithapreviouspartner.Insupportof the model, effects were partially mediated by frequency ofdrinking at parties and bars across the 56-day reporting period, but not by drinking at home. Conclusions: Previous research has demonstratedassociations among sociosexuality, drinking, and casual sex. Our study is unique in suggesting that drinking in specific contexts—thatis, drinking at parties and bars, but not drinking at home—partially mediates the effects of sociosexuality on sexwithnew partners. This pathway suggests thatmen with adesire formanynovel, concurrent, uncommitted sexpartners seek out drinking contexts as away of facilitating these encounters.