a growing experience - Student Services - University of Melbourne

HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTSTable 50Gender ofsexual partner(s) inAustraliaMaleNumberPercentageFemaleNumberPercentageBothNumberPercentageNo sexual partnerNumberPercentageGender of sexual partners of female students (n=599)Gender of sexual partner(s) at homeMale Female Both No sexualpartner12621.010.220.38213.710.240.710.240.730.5000010.2437.220.30032954.9Changes in gender of partners are to be seen in the highlighted cells. The studentsinvolved represent a very small minority – only two male students (0.6 per cent) andeight female students (1.4 per cent). Most change is therefore a change in presence orabsence of sexual activity, rather than in the gender of sexual partners.A large number of different sexual partners can be indicative of health-related risk.There is some variation in the number of sexual partners that students indicate theyhave had since their arrival in Australia, though the vast majority of students (88.2 percent of male students and 90.7 per cent of female students) have had either none orone sexual partner while in Australia. Table 51 presents the relevant information.The number of partners might be expected to increase with age and years ofenrolment. This is the case for female students 257 . For male students, there is apositive correlation with age but not with years of enrolment 258 . Married/partneredstudents have a significantly higher average number of partners than singles. This ispresumably in large part the effect of the number of singles who are not sexuallyactive 259 . There is a small but significant positive relationship between number ofpartners and sense of connectedness 260 in Melbourne and a small, significant negativerelationship with level of cultural stress 261 .Table 51Number of sexual partners in AustraliaRange Mean SD Percentage with0-3 partnersMales 0 – 25 0.9 2.5 95.5Females 0 – 13 0.6 1.1 98.1257 Age: =+0.29, p