Friends With Benefits, or FWB, has become a household term over the last few years, with movies, media and pop culture all putting the casual sexual lifestyle in the spotlight, however studies have never gone into comparing the lifestyle to traditional relationships until now.

The new study finds that people in traditional relationships are much less likely to use condoms, and these partners tend to trust each other to not have sex with other people. This opens up health risks when the partners are not in a fully committed sexual relationship. Meanwhile friends with benefits are much more likely to use condoms. With the thoughts of open sex in an uncommitted relationship, FWB are more likely to use protection not just during intercourse, but for oral sex as well.

The Journal Of Sex Research also found FWB partners were less likely to be sexually exclusive, had a lower frequency of sexual interaction, were less sexually satisfied, and generally communicated less about sex than romantic partners did.