Young adults in Europe deliberately binge on drink and drugs to improve their sex lives, research suggests.
The UK has one of the worst reputations for binge drinking and underage sex but there are striking similarities between countries, a study found.
A third of 16 to 35-year-old men and 23% of women questioned said they drank to increase their chance of sex.
The study - of 1,341 young people in nine countries including the UK - is published in BMC Public Health.
Young people were also more at risk of unsafe sex while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, the study found.
The researchers said although it was well known that use of alcohol and drugs was linked to risky sexual behaviour, this study showed many young people were "strategically" binge drinking or abusing drugs to improve their sex lives.
They questioned young people in nine cities, one each in the UK, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Slovenia - who all routinely went to pubs, bars and nightclubs.
Early use of alcohol and other drugs was closely linked to having sex under the age of 16 years, in all countries, especially in girls.
Almost half of participants in Vienna, Austria had drunk alcohol and had sex by the time they were 16 compared with 36% in Venice, Italy, 37% in Palma, Spain and 30% in Liverpool.
The same was true for those who took drugs under the age of 16 but there were variations in popularity of different drugs among different countries.
More than a quarter of youngsters taking cocaine said they used it to prolong sex and drug use in general was linked to having multiple partners.
...continued
here
