Sexual Intercourse Frequency During Pregnancy: Weekly Surveys Among 237 Young Women From A Random Population-Based Sample

Significant differences in sexual frequency during pregnancy have been documented in cross-sectional and once-per-trimester longitudinal studies, with the highest sexual frequency in the first trimester and the lowest in the third trimester. However, changes in sexual frequency may be more complex than these comparisons suggest; patterns of sexual frequency have not been assessed using frequent (e.g., weekly) assessments throughout a woman's pregnancy. To assess changes in the frequency of sexual intercourse across all weeks of pregnancy. We used data from 237 women (54% White; 43% Black) who reported a pregnancy during the Relationship Dynamics and Social Life (RDSL) study. RDSL was based on a random population-based sample of 992 women in the United States, aged 18 or 19, who completed a baseline interview and brief weekly follow-up surveys for 2.5 years. We used generalized multilevel modeling to fit and compare linear, quadratic, and piecewise (via b-splines) models. Weekly probability of sexual intercourse. Sexual intercourse frequency clearly declined across pregnancy, yet the pattern followed the course of common pregnancy symptomology (i.e., nausea, fatigue) more closely than trimester cutoffs. The best fitting model demonstrated that the probability of sexual intercourse declined sharply (∼18% each week) between conception and 11 weeks, subsequently increased by ∼3% each week between weeks 11 and 21, and then declined steadily (∼6% each week) through the end of pregnancy. Documenting more precise patterns of change in sexual frequency during pregnancy provides important information to many who wish to maintain sexual intimacy while pregnant, or to those who would otherwise find the sexual disruptions particularly challenging. This study is the first to document changes in sexual intercourse frequency throughout all weeks of pregnancy as they naturally occurred among a representative sample of young women. The focus on sexual intercourse limits the findings to only one aspect of human sexuality. The narrow age range of the sample precludes generalization to all pregnant women. Changes in sexual frequency are more complex than the general declines suggested by other studies; within-trimester patterns reveal the shortcomings in understanding sexual behavior changes when aggregated by trimester, such as severely underestimating the degree of fluctuation in the first trimester. Pregnancy symptomology may be most favorable to intercourse towards the end