Chemical sex (chemsex) in a population of French university students.

Abstract

IntroductionChemsex is defined by the use of psychoactive substances to facilitate or improve sexual relations. Our objectives were to assess the prevalence of the practice of ‘chemsex’ in a population of French university students and to identify socio-demographic and clinical factors associated with this practice.Material and methodsWe have used an anonymous online questionnaire comprising 15 questions on socio-demographic characteristics, chemsex use, sexual satisfaction, the type of substances used in this sexual context and their route of administration.ResultsA total of 680 people were included in our study. Among them, 22.5% reported chemsex behaviour in the past year. Using a multivariate analysis, factors associated with chemsex were dating application use (p = 0.049) and pornography use [viewing more than once per month (p = 0.002)]. Having a sexual partner involved in chemsex (p < 0.0001), celibacy (p = 0.007), sexual orientations other than heterosexual (p = 0.0013) and especially bisexuality (p = 0.0002) were also significantly associated with chemsex.ConclusionThis is the first study reporting a high prevalence of chemsex in a university student population. Further larger studies should be conducted to confirm these results showing a high prevalence of this at-risk behaviour.