Relationship between risky sex behaviors and psichosocial characteristics of students
Table of Contents
Visvaldas Legkauskas
Vita Jakovlevaitė
Published 2005-01-01
https://doi.org/10.15388/Psichol.2005..4329
35-45.pdf (Lithuanian)

Keywords

risky sexual behaviour
ego identity status
relationship with parents
relationship with peers

How to Cite

Legkauskas, V., & Jakovlevaitė, V. (2005). Relationship between risky sex behaviors and psichosocial characteristics of students. Psichologija, 32, 35-45. https://doi.org/10.15388/Psichol.2005..4329

Abstract

A study was conducted to asses relationship between risky sex behaviors, aspects of ego-identity, and quality of relationships with friends and parents among freshman and sophomore students. A total of 240 students participated in the study, including 170 women and 70 men. All subjects were between 18 and 20 years of age.
Subjects were asked about age of their first intercourse, experience of one-time intercourse, and use of condoms. Relationships with parents and parents and friends were assessed using Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment, while aspects of ego-identity were measured using the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status.
75.7% of men and 58.8% of women indicated having had intercourse. Mean age at the first intercourse was 17.59 for women and 16.44 for men. Both difference in the prevalence of intercourse experience and difference in the mean age at the first experience between men and women was significant.
Out of those subjects, who indicated having had intercourse, 70% of men and 48% of women admitted having had experience of one-time intercourse. This difference between women and men was statistically significant. 64.7% of men and 52.0% of women admitted having intercourse without a condom with at least one partner. Among sexually experienced students, 34% of women and 48% of men indicated having had both one-time intercourse and intercourse without a condom. However, these differences were not statistically significant.
Students scoring higher on interpersonal diffusion tended to have their first intercourse experience at a younger age. Furthermore, interpersonal diffusion scores were higher for those with one-time intercourse experience than for those without such experience. Interestingly, subjects scoring higher on interpersonal foreclosure scale tended to start their sexual life younger. For women, higher scores on both ideological and interpersonal foreclosure scales were related to intercourse without using condom and to particularly risky sexual behavior (i.e. both having one-time intercourse and sex without using a condom). This result suggests that authority-oriented upbringing resulting in foreclosure may not be effective in forming safe sexual practices among women.
Higher quality of relationship with the mother was related to older age at the first intercourse. The same was true of quality of relationships with peers. Furthermore, those subjects, who had never had sex without a condom, reported higher quality of relationships with peers than those who had sex without a condom with one or more partners. This result indicates that social skills training and improved relationship with peers may indeed result in safer sex practices.

35-45.pdf (Lithuanian)

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