Casual Sex Linked to Poor Mental Health: Both Reinforce Each Other

Casual sex may not be the best idea for those with poor mental health. A recent study has revealed that the two can feed off of each other in teens and young adults, with each one contributing to the other over time.

"Several studies have found a link between poor mental health and casual sex, but the nature of that association has been unclear," said Sara Sandberg-Thoma, one of the researchers, in a news release. "There's always been a question about which one is the cause and which is the effect. This study provides evidence that poor mental health can lead to casual sex, but also that casual sex leads to additional declines in mental health."

In order to get a better sense of the relationship between casual sex and mental health, the researchers examined data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Adolescents from 80 high schools and 52 middle schools were interviewed when they were in grades 7 through 12 and then again when they were between the ages of 18 and 26. In the end, the researchers found that 29 percent of the respondents engaged in any type of casual sexual relationship. This included 33 percent of men and 24 percent of women.

What was interesting, though, was the fact that participants who reported serious thoughts of suicide or more depressive symptoms as teens were more likely to report having casual sexual relationships when they were young adults. Casual sex, in turn, was linked to further declines in mental health. Specifically, those who had casual sex in their late teens and early 20s were significantly more likely to have serious thoughts of suicide as young adults. In fact, each addition casual sex relationship increased the odds of suicidal thoughts by 18 percent.

What was perhaps more interesting was the fact that the link between casual sex and mental health was the same for both men and women.

"That was unexpected because there is still this sexual double standard in society that says it is okay for men to have casual sexual relationships, but it is not okay for women," said Kamp Dush, one of the researchers, in a news release. "But these results suggest that poor mental health and casual sex are linked, whether you're a man or a woman."

That's not to say that casual sex was always associated with declines in mental health, though. Casual sex in late teens and early 20s was not associated with changes in depression as a young adult.

The findings reveal a little bit more about this connection between mental health and casual sex. They suggest that both researchers and health professionals need to consider more than one measure of mental health. This study also reveals the importance of identifying adolescents struggling with poor mental health so that professionals can intervene early.

The findings are published in the Journal of Sex Research.