The Sexual Culture Study – A Qualitative Interview Study and Database (UNGSEX)

How do young people negotiate and navigate questions related to sexuality, sexual health and risk. What are the reasons that so many end up committing or being subjected to sexual violations during precisely this period of life?

These are the questions we explore in the Ungsex project, which, among other things, maps the entire continuum of young people's sexual experiences – from the wanted and consensual, to the ambivalent and violating – with a particular focus on three key arenas in young people's lives: the digital sphere, school, and social party settings linked to substance use.

Data and methods

UNGSEX is a thematically broad, qualitative interview study. The project builds on, and complements, the knowledge about prevalence generated through UngVold and Ungdata. The aim of the interview study is to build up a qualitative database with unique data that can be used across a range of different projects and shed light on a broad spectrum of research questions.

The database currently comprises 155 personal interviews with young people aged 17 to 19, from a wide range of schools, locations and youth environments in Oslo, other cities, and smaller towns across Norway. The young people were interviewed by virtue of being young - not on the basis of problem-related criteria. The sample was strategically recruited to ensure gender balance, variation in socioeconomic background, and the inclusion of ethnic and sexual minorities.

In addition to exploring in depth the full thematic range that allows us to shed light on young people's sexual culture today, the database contains both systematic data on background variables and data on a number of other topics central to adolescence, including substance use, school cultures, friendships and family relationships, and norms around gender and sexuality, among others. This breadth makes it possible both to explore individual topics in depth and to shed light on connections across them.

The database is updated through supplementary data collection. Interviews are continuously anonymised, transcribed and thematically coded, meaning the database functions as a data archive.

Research

The UngSex study has so far generated articles, book chapters and reports on topics including cocaine use in class-privileged youth environments, sexual debut, attitudes towards gender and sexual diversity across different school cultures, and young people's experiences of digital sexual violations.

The UngSex database forms the empirical basis for several research projects, including Youth Sexuality and Sexual Risk in a Digital Era (DIGISEX) and DRUGTREND: Youth cultures and emerging patterns of drug use in a digital age. The data are also used in Master's theses and in an ongoing PhD study.