'Late blooming' teenagers during high school are more likely to 'jump into' ...

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Casual sex at university and a woman's willingness to engage in frivolous intercourse depends on how sexually active they were at school, a study has found. 

Late bloomers, for example, had little to no sex at school and were forced to go on the contraceptive pill by worried parents.

These people then were more likely to 'jump into' casual sex arrangements as they spend time away from overbearing parents. 

They then openly discussed sex with peers at university and even take part in 'slut shaming' of themselves and others.

Women at university fit into one of five different categories: religious, relationship seekers, high school partiers, late bloomers and career women.  

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Dr Laurie Hawkins from the University of Essex conducted 45 interviews with undergraduate women at a large public Western United States.

They were asked to give their views on sexuality in adolescence as well as their sexual and romantic relationships in college.

All the women had similar backgrounds and 'utilised similar strategies to integrate into cultures of casual sex on their University campus'.

Dr Hawkins told MailOnline: 'The late bloomers were an interesting group. 

'They pretty much ignored sex but once they did engage in sex/hookup culture at university, they jumped into it more than others and were among the most sexually active of all the groups. 

'However, since they had fairly negative feelings about the appropriateness of sex, they needed a way to justify their own behaviour so they engaged in slut shaming of other women in order to make themselves feel better about their own behaviour – they might be having sex, but others were doing it more and therefore their sexual behaviour was better.

'I think they talked about it more as it was a way to engage in social comparison so they could bolster their feelings about their own participation in casual sex culture.'