Women, Substance Abuse and Sex With Many Partners

What are the effects in terms of abusing drugs or alcohol when someone has several sex partners? Research remains unclear, but a new study is challenging some old assumptions.

A study involving more than 1,000 participants in New Zealand looked at patterns between mental illness, substance abuse and sex with several partners. Conclusions indicate that the connections between mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse and frequent sexual pairings seem to flow in a linear way – which challenges existing assumptions that one may cause the other. 

Prior research has concluded that people who abused alcohol or drugs often may also have a higher likelihood of risky, high-volume sex with different people. Previous studies also linked a person’s presence of anxiety or depression to high sexual activity as a way of self-soothing, or in response to impulse control problems. The new study, however, suggests that the connections may be more complex than this, and may be different for each gender.

During the study, which spanned several years, researchers concluded that women who had sex with several people didn’t show increases in anxiety or increases in depression. They did, however, show effects on their rates of using substances.

The study does, however, recognize that as people have sex with more and more individuals, and rarely with a truly intimate or personal connection,  may eventually self-soothe negative emotions with higher rates of drug or alcohol use. This may be even more likely for women who have sex with several partners.

Common signs of sex addiction include sex with multiple partners, obsessive thoughts about sex, and problems with emotional intimacy. The addiction can go untreated for years unless professional treatment is received. Like other addictions, sex addiction is progressive, complex and often has multiple factors – but treatment and recovery are possible.