Is Safe Sex Among College Students?

Sexual education is a highly debatable topic, but many believe the information taught to students should be abstinence-only. Abstinence-only education has been put in place in order to educate students about the social, mental, and physical benefits of resisting from all sexual activity. It emphasizes the unsafe impacts of participating in sexual activity before marriage and having casual sex. It also promotes the idea that sexual abstinence is the only way to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease. Abstinence education only permits the discussion of contraception and condoms in terms of failure in order to utterly discourage casual sex (Wilgoren, 1). Along with teaching the physical dangers of sex, abstinence education also teaches the mental dangers of sex (Abstinence-Only Education, 1). Sex has many risks and dangers that are not

Studies show that the national average for an adolescent’s first sexual intercourse encounter is seventeen years old. Despite this number being very close to the average age in other industrialized countries, the United States holds a higher percentage of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease (STD) contraction than those countries (Harper et al, 2010, p. 125). It’s becoming evident that while a majority of the nation’s youth is sexually active, they are not doing so with the appropriate knowledge to keep themselves and others healthy.

"Approximately four million teens get a sexually transmitted disease every year" (Scripps 1). Today’s numbers of sexually active teens differ greatly from that of just a few years ago. Which in return, projects that not only the risk of being infected with a sexually transmitted disease (STD) has risen, but the actual numbers of those infected rise each year as well. These changes have not gone unnoticed. In fact have produced adaptations as to how society educates its young adults about sex, using special programs, various advertising, and regulating sexual education courses in public schools. One major adaptation is the advancement and availability of

Master of Professional Health Debra Hauser states that sexual education is an essential part of the development and growth of teenagers. In her article “Youth Health and Rights in Sex Education”, MPH Hauser provides a report of teenage pregnancies and STDs incidences, which points out that each year in the United States, about 750,000 teens become pregnant, with up to 82 percent of those pregnancies being unintended. Young people ages 15-24 account for 25 percent of all new HIV infections in the U.S (Hauser). According to Hauser, “sex education teaches young people the skills they need to protect themselves”, such as the ability to recognize patterns of a toxic relationships, learning to value and have control over their bodies, understanding

Numerous sexual partners enables the chances of contracting an STI, such as Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, or Syphilis, to increase; that being said, statistics indicate that one in every five teens has had four or more sexual partners. Teens of the ages 15 through 19 are among the highest rates of the population infected with the previously mentioned sexually transmitted diseases. Teens engaging in sexual activity are often exposed to diseases without full understanding of the ease that these infections can be transmitted; students need to be exposed to the severe consequences in order to promote more cautious future decisions, like the amount of sexual encounters. Many young males and females never acquire information on the numerous sexually transmitted infections that they could catch and distribute nor how to prevent or treat such diseases. The statistics of high school students that document receiving counseling on STDs and STD testing at a routine checkup with their doctor meets low expectations, recording at 42.8 percent for females and only 26.4 percent for males. The high rates of infected teens could be directly related to the lack of knowledge they receive on the possible diseases that can be distributed through sex. Without proper knowledge on sexually transmitted diseases, the

The researchers assessed nearly 400 students between the ages of 18 and 29 on various measures of their HIV / AIDS knowledge risk behaviors (such as failure to use condoms, multiple sex partners, alcohol and other drug use, and sexual history). Numerous factors were shown to predict high-risk sexual behaviors, including conformity to peer group pressures. In this test, understanding how conformity pressures affects people's choices about their sexual behaviors might help in fighting the continuing spread of

It is pertinent to ensure that we are able to provide the populous with the facts in regards to being responsible and safe when choosing to engage in intercourse. Due to the availability of sexual material, it is fair to say that this generation will continue to carry the torch of exploring and redefining casual sex. These points help propel Lara Riscol’s argument ahead of Rebecca Hagelin ‘s view. Despite her strong arguments, Rebecca Hagelin fails to identify how the responsibility for an individual’s actions become his or her own and are no longer the responsibility of the parent and teacher. College is often viewed as the time in which young men and women take what was taught to them by their parents and teachers as guidance on how to handle situations on their own. During this time if they were reared right, they will learn how to handle sexual situations and avoid being irresponsible if they choose to engage in these activities. One of the great benefits of becoming an adult is the ability to make your own decisions and the key element to making a wise decision is gathering all the facts in regards to that decision. I believe that by teaching young adults avoidance without providing the information needed in case they choose not to avoid is an

Five years ago, the Center for Controlled Disease (CDC) reported that 79.5% of college students are sexually active (The Daily Barometer Staff). Seeing that nearly all students are having sex, it seems plausible that every university would have the proper education and health resources to insure that students are being safe and smart in their activities. Declining to provide these resources is similar to letting an inexperienced driver take the wheel of a automobile. Most teens would jump at the opportunity to speed down the streets at first chance. But quickly after putting the car into drive, the excitement would soon fade as panic starts to kick in. This speeding driver, much like an uneducated sexually active college student, would not

We can look at these key constructs as they relate to the topic of adolescent sexual risk behaviors. With the construct of perceived susceptibility, adolescents may feel that they are not at risk of contracting an STD. Perceived severity is the idea that this population believe getting an STD is severe enough to take action. With perceived benefits, adolescents feel that getting tested for HIV or using a condom will protect them from an unplanned pregnancy or STD. Perceived barriers allows adolescents to identify any barriers they may have with using condoms or getting tested and ways to overcome these barriers. A cue to action could be a simple HIV related radio ad or commercial. This can prompt

Step one is to identify the health issue or problem and the population affected. Safe sex is a pertinent topic for college students, because it is a known fact that many young adults experiment with sex in college. Some researchers have found that the younger population today is participating in more casual sex. In other words instead of sexual relationships being just between a boyfriend and a girlfriend they often are between friends or casual acquaintances. Considering that college students fall into the young adults category it would be pertinent to provide education on safe sex.

Community college students were intentionally chosen since they tend to be more ethnically diverse and in a lower socioeconomic bracket compared to traditional four-year college students that were mostly studied in the literature. This study allegedly utilized three constructs of the Health Belief Model (HBM): “perceived susceptibility, HPV knowledge, and self-efficacy” to determine whether there was a link between these constructs and HPV vaccine acceptability as well as male or female condom use among male community college students. A cross-sectional survey of students at a two-year college in New York City was conducted electronically via SurveyMonkey. One hundred and twenty male students, 18 years and above, were recruited via a public recruitment flyers that were posted throughout the campus. The study participants responded to questions designed to examine their knowledge about HPV and where they received that knowledge, self-efficacy, perceived susceptibility to HPV, vaccine acceptability, and sexual health behaviors that included protective behaviors such as condom use. Demographic characteristics that included age, sex, race, marital status, and the number of college semesters complete were also

The Sexual Risky Survey (SRS) was developed to be able to explicitly study risky sexual behavior in a college student population (Fisher et al., 2010). It is able to assess the frequency of sexual behavior within the past six months among college students. The final survey uses 23 questions that were taken from past surveys as well as from literature about sexual risk

Programs that encourage abstinence have become a vital part of school systems in the US. These programs are usually referred to as abstinence-only or value-based programs while other programs are called as safer-sex, comprehensive, secular or abstinence-plus programs which on the contrary promote the usage of effective contraception. Although abstinence-only and safer-sex programs disagree with one another, their core values and stand on the aims of sex education is to help teens develop problem-solving skills and the skill of good decision-making. They believe that adolescents will be better prepared to “act responsibly in the heat of the moment” (Silva). Most programs that have been currently implemented in the US have seen a delay in the initiation of sex among teens which proves to be a positive and desirable outcome (Silva).

This research study explored the intention and belief’s about getting tested for a Sexual Transmitted Disease (STD) with college students. Most STD show no signs or symptoms, so they easily go undetected. Since STD’s go undetected in many people, it is easier for the infection to spread from person to person. College students are at the most risk for coming in contact with an STD. Researchers want to discover what factors such as, attitudes, norms and perceived behavioral control, contribute in a college students decision about getting tested for an STD. Secondly, researchers want to explore the belief’s that may differ between an intenders (willing to get tested) and nonintenders (unwilling to get tested) of STD testing.

A few teenagers stray from the crowds by not allowing pressure and temptation to put them at risk for sexual diseases. Others enter the dangerous world of sex by engaging in sexual activities, which is normally triggered by curiosity and peer pressure. Having sex, however, does not necessary result in a person contracting a sexually transmitted disease, but the risk is higher. Using latex condoms decrease the participants’ chances of infection (Centers 1). By being aware of the benefits and proper usage of condoms, the protection for teens is in full effect. Students having knowledge and access to condoms should lead him to make the choice of protecting themselves. Consistently using condoms will allow teenagers the ability to express themselves sexually in a safer way. By using condoms, students are securing themselves from later life-changing events, like a disease that can occur if not using protection. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identify that “latex condoms can reduce the risk of other sexually transmitted diseases”, which is why students having access to condoms and information about sex can change pregnancy and sexual infection rates among teens (2).