Sexually Risky Behavior in College-Aged Students

Abstract

Objective: To examine college-aged students’ sexual risk taking behavior and their knowledge level. Design: descriptive design participants. Setting: A convenience sample of college-aged students between the ages of 17 - 25. Results: Seven hundred and seventy students responded to the survey. Findings revealed that 33% had sexual intercourse with two to five individuals, and 15.5% between eleven and twenty sexual partners. 50.9% had unprotected vaginal intercourse not using condoms and of those 45.8% either do not insist on condom use or only use them occasionally. 22.1% do not insist on using condoms for sexual intercourse and 24.7% responded that they sometimes insist on condom use. 47.2% are not worried about getting AIDS. 41.3% are not concerned with genital lesions. 42.4% would rate themselves as not being very knowledgeable about sexually transmitted infections. 12.4% of the females had unintended pregnancies and overall 74.9% would not feel comfortable discussing their sexual activity with their mothers. 58.1% use alcohol prior to or during sexual intercourse.