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In differentiating between extramarital intercourse and promiscuity, the authors define extramarital intercourse as all types of sexual relationships outside of marriage, whereas promiscuity is restricted to transient sexual relationships which terminate after intercourse and includes prostitution.
The personalities of two hundred patients with venereal disease are compared with a control group of sixty-eight impetigo patients. All were soldiers in Great Britain. Each patient was interviewed for an hour and a half. In evaluating personality types the authors stress the fact that in the venereal disease group 59 per cent were emotionally immature, whereas in the control group only 19 per cent were immature. They conclude that venereal disease patients are not a random sample of the armed forces and that there are specific factors which make certain people acquire venereal disease: they were either indifferent to or discontented with the army and thus 83 per cent suffered from poor morale. In the control group 52 per cent had poor morale. Service maladaptation was present in 58 per cent of the venereal disease cases; they were also habitually unfaithful to their mates. By and large, the habitually promiscuous men were poor soldiers, disloyal, incompetent, and immature, although there were occasional men of high morale and efficiency. The authors state that habitual promiscuity is obviously related to an incapacity for deep attachment to any one woman, or to deficient amalgamation of affection and sexuality. They suggest various personal and social measures for the prevention of venereal disease.
The authors conclude that promiscuity, like alcoholism, is more a matter of morale than of morals.