Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI)

College campuses have seen a rise, in the epidemic of Sexually transmitted diseases. Sexually transmitted diseases have quickly become a household name amongst Americans. The dangers and health issues related to acquiring a STD has been the reason why more attention has been brought to the STD epidemic. The reason for this attention is to hopefully, slow down the rate of STD’S amongst students. There is a very astonishing fact stated by the Agape Pregnancy Resource Center, “Nearly 80% percent of people that are infected with STD’s do not know it. ("Agape Pregnancy Resource Center") The use of condoms, knowing your status, and the practice of abstinence are very effective ways of avoiding contracting STD’s. If we do not make students

According to recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, approximately 1.2 million individuals in the United States have HIV (about 14 percent of which are unaware of their infection and another 1.1 million have progressed to AIDS. Over the past decade, the number of HIV cases in the US has increased, however, the annual number of cases remains stable at about 50, 000 new cases per year. Within these estimates, certain groups tend to carry the burden of these disease, particularly the gay, bisexual, and men who have sex with men (MSM) and among race/ethnic groups, Blacks/African American males remain disproportionately affected. (CDC)

The prevalence of HIV in the African American community is unmatched by any other population. African Americans accounted for 49% of all HIV related deaths in 2010 (CDC, 2014). In my specialty area of family practice, I have encountered only one non-minority patient with HIV; all others have been African-American. This population needs to be of high consideration for disease education. African Americans are typically unaware of resources available to prevent the transmission of this disease, as well as testing available to them in their communities. African American children, especially, are at greater risk for HIV due to lack of knowledge and earlier age of engaging in sexual intercourse. They are typically unaware that their behavior can yield such a negative outcome (CDC, 2012). Many urban schools lack proper funding to accommodate a sexual education curriculum. It is of increased importance to raise awareness, educate and provide a plan of care for the African American teenage and adult population, as the incidence of this disease rises daily.

Each of the institutions selected have health centers located on the campuses. Jackson State, Tougaloo, and Alcorn all provide HIV/STD screening services at the health centers. The provision of these services indicates that the campuses are aware of the risk for their student population to be infected with either an STD or HIV; however, Tougaloo and Jackson State were founded from religious foundations and therefore may pose increased stigma for those infected with STDs and HIV.

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

The main focus of this article was to study sexual risk taking, and the factors that influence it among college students. They hypothesized that sexual risk taking would be positively associated with participants alcohol use, drug use, sensation seeking and sexual excitation, and negatively associated with conscientiousness, agreeableness, and sexual inhibition. As all researchers do, these psychologists based their hypotheses on previous research that was done about the same topic. For example, in 2002 Cooper did a study on substance use and risky sexual practices. The hypothesis was based on a study done in 2007 by Zuckerman about sensation seeking and sexual risk behaviors, as well as a study conducted by Hoyle et al. in 2000 about the Five-Factor

Those White students who had a greater number of sexual partners, and those White students with more positive HIV testing attitudes “were significant predictors of HIV testing among White students” (2016). The study found that the older the student and personal sexual history were also significant predictors of HIV testing for both groups. “There were no significant differences between groups in number of sexual partners or self-reports in history of sexual experience (oral, vaginal, or anal)” (2016). The study concluded that racial differences were a significant factor in predicting attitudes towards HIV-infected

STDs are sexually transmitted diseases usually caused by unprotected sex with another person with an STD. This disease plays a big role in college due to the amount of freedom they have and also the transition of being in high school to becoming a college student. This disease is a big problem when it comes to college because its all about growth, discovering, and exploration, and for this exploration it explores beyond the college walls into the bedrooms. College is known for partying, hookups, and a pleasure lifestyle.

Sexual risk-taking behavior among college students is based on their upbringing and socializing environment. This is the argument in the article Casual Contraception in Casual Sex: Life-Cycle Change in Undergraduates’ Sexual Behavior in Hookups, written by Jonathan Marc Bearak from the New York University. Do college students use condoms? If so, when, and what factors influence this decision? In his research Bearak concluded that for females, the way that females are viewed on campus influences their decision to use contraception. Another factor that influences the females’ decisions to use contraception is whether or not the person they are hooking up with attends their school.

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).

Some people do not seek treatment for STIs, because they are simply unaware of the infection. Unaware in the sense of not knowing what a STI is, and how dangerous it could become if it is undetected. Numerous of individuals are uneducated on the issue or have very little knowledge about it. There is a massive amount of individuals that are unfamiliar with the different forms of a STI, and how it is transmitted. Others are simply frightened, mortified, and or very nonchalant about the issue entirely. I believe our upbringing and the environment we live in, plays a major role in how we accept, see and deal with things as a whole.

As many people may know, there is a lot of unprotected sex amongst college students. Participating in this activity not only leads to pregnancy but it may also lead to Sexual Transmitted Diseases. Here are a few statistics concerning college students and STD’s…

Safe sex is a priority to eliminate sexually transmitted diseases. Anyone is at risk, although young adults are vulnerable due to specific behaviors. Kanekar, Sharma and Bennett (2015) report, “Young adults engage themselves in unsafe sexual behaviors exposing themselves to getting a sexually transmitted disease (STD) and/or Human Immunodeficiency virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency syndrome (p. 90). The importance of self-protection and limiting negative behavior, aids in prevention of disease. The application of Social Cognitive Theory to predict safer sex among college students is a useful tool for behavior change.

The youths aged 15-25 years are vulnerable to infections as studies indicate they have the highest rate of STDs in the U.S (Kiene, Tennen, & Armeli, 2008). In fact, they account for nearly fifty percent of all the new STDs infections. The college women have incessantly become the primary STD clinic attendees as they are vulnerable to the human papillomavirus (HPV) as explained by Albarracin et al. (2000). Unfortunately, many college students in the United States seldom report their consistent use of condoms. The inconsistency has put this target group at risk for HIV, STDs, and unplanned pregnancies. In designing the best interventions that would

The human immunodeficiency virus (also known as HIV) has been an increasing health concern primarily African American community. I will be mainly focusing on the African American community even though I know this issue can affect many other groups. There are a variety of reasons that place African Americans at a higher risk for HIV than any other ethnic groups. Some of those reasons are: being involved in risky sexual behavior, not getting tested for STD’s/HIV/AIDS and social settings. The experiments covered in this paper involve participants that are college students. College student are used for a good representatives for all African Americans. I chose this topic because I am African American and based off the research I conducted, I have a higher risk for contracting HIV if I do not take the right precaution. Due to their actions and inactions African Americans are at high risk for HIV in the United States.