Sexual experiences, behaviours and attitudes in the parents in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Childhood (ALSPAC)

The aim of this data note is to describe the sexual experiences, behaviours, and attitudes data collected from the parent cohorts of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) over a 30-year period. ALSPAC is an ongoing birth cohort which enrolled 14,541 pregnant women living in Avon, a county of southwest England, with expected dates of delivery between April 1991 and December 1992 inclusive and continues collecting data on these mothers (age range at delivery <16–41 years), their partners (age range at delivery <16–65), and their offspring, so far resulting in 100,000+ phenotype variables. During the index pregnancy the mothers were asked (and at 8 months post-delivery for partners) about their early sexual experiences to identify sexual abuse/assaults and the age at which an event first happened. Both parents were asked also about sexual abuse within a battery of questions identifying Adverse Childhood Events (ACE). Further longitudinal data described here includes satisfaction with sexual and non-sexual sides of their relationship; sexual functioning; and at seven years post-delivery, both parents were asked to describe their sexual orientation as well as the sex of their partners and cohabiting partners. These data provide the ability to compare generational differences between parental sexual behaviours and attitudes with those of their offspring, as well as allowing comparisons with other longitudinal surveys where similar (or identical) information has been collected such as the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (NATSAL-3). This paper forms a companion to another data note describing similar data collected on the offspring cohort.