A NEW breed of young woman has emerged in the 21st century that blends her partying image with core beliefs far more traditional than those of her parents, a survey showed today.

The hedonism of late 1990s boozy 'ladette' culture, epitomised by Zoe Ball and her pal, Radio 1 DJ Sara Cox, still exists, but 18 to 25-year-olds in Gwent now mix weekend revelling with life's more traditional values.

The survey quizzed 5,000 young women from around the UK and Wales, and found less than half of them think it is important to be in love with someone before you sleep with them, 61 per cent of them have had a one-night stand and 73 per cent say they have slept with someone and wished they hadn't.

The average woman in Britain has had seven sexual partners by the time she reaches 21, and when meeting a new partner, 22 per cent have sex within a week.

More than half of the sample get drunk "at least once a week" and nearly half of young women, 45 per cent, have taken drugs, while only four per cent think they've "wasted too much time taking drugs".

However, when it comes to the more serious side of life these party-goers got tough.

An overwhelming 96 per cent think the current sentencing on adult criminals is too soft, and 71 per cent think that the death penalty would serve as a deterrent and decrease murder cases.

As well as opting for "marriage before children", "tougher divorce laws" and "Britain out of the EU", 70 per cent of young women who graduated from university say their degree did not help them get the job they wanted. Conservative AM Laura Jones, 25, concurs with the views expressed, and said: "Young women want to play hard, but they also work hard and expect something back from society for their efforts.

"We're fed up with seeing rapists serve cushy sentences, and want to see sentences fit the crimes.

"People are moving towards more traditional views and sometimes extremes such as the death penalty because they don't think enough is being done to protect them anymore."

Miss Jones, a politics graduate of Plymouth University, added: "University education doesn't guarantee anyone a job, and the national target of getting 50 per cent of youngsters to uni is a nonsense. Some are better suited to learning trades and this country has a massive skills shortage."