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Description
Emerging adults (M=18.99 years, SD=.50) completed cross-sectional questionnaires (N = 943) and targeted follow-up telephone surveys (N = 202) across the transition to college. Gender, personal goals (dating, friendship, academic), and past sexual behavior were examined as predictors of reasons to have and not to have sex. Men rated Self-focused reasons to have sex as more important; women rated Partner-focused reasons to have sex and Ethical reasons not to have sex as more important. Importance of Pregnancy/STD reasons not to have sex did not differ by gender. Before college entrance, sexual history and personal goals predicted endorsement of reasons for/against sex. Personal goals predicted first intercourse during freshman year. Limitations of the study include the single university sample and use of closed-ended self-report measures. Personal goals and reasons for/against sex are associated with sexual behavior and should be addressed in programs designed to promote sexual health among emerging adult college students.
Why do some college students have sex while others do not have sex? The average age of first intercourse in the United States is 17.7 years of age (Else-Quest, Hyde, & DeLamater, 2005). Nationally, 60.5% of twelfth-graders have had sex (Grunbaum et al., 2002). Among the 63.9% of Americans who pursue postsecondary education immediately after graduating from high school (National Center for Education Statistics, 2005) levels of sexual activity are likely lower. For example, one study found that 52% of freshmen in a college sample had ever had sex (Siegel, Klein, & Roughmann, 1999). Those emerging adults who have not are likely to have their first experience with sex during college (Cooper, 2002). Since behavior is often goal directed (Furby & Beyth-Marom, 1992; Maggs, 1997), it is especially important to understand students' reasons for having sex.
Campuses provide an important context in which to study reasons to have and not to have sex. The percentage of students who have ever had sex rises steadily during the college years, reaching about 86% by senior year (Siegel et al., 1999). These sexual behaviors place emerging adults at significant risk for unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), especially because significant numbers of college students fail to use contraception and effective methods of disease protection (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2000). For example, in a study by Civic (1999), 28% of college undergraduates failed to use consistent contraception. Half of the 19 million STDs occurring annually in the United States are among youth aged 15 to 24 (Weinstock, Berman, & Cates, 2004). More fully understanding reasons for and against sex among college students will inform much-needed sexual health promotion efforts on college campuses.
Although most emerging adults are sexually active (defined as ever engaging in sexual intercourse), there is no theory that adequately describes the development and impact of individual reasons for having or not having sex (Lefkowitz & Gillen, 2005). One reason for the lack of theory is the limited amount of developmental research in this area, despite the fact that understanding the reasons for decisions about sex is vital for creation and refinement of programs to promote sexual health (Cooper, 2002). The current study focuses on developmentally normative personal goals and domain-specific reasons to have and not to have sex among incoming college students.
Gender Differences
Issues such as gender differences in sexual motivations require further investigation (Ozer, Dolcini, & Harper, 2003; Paradise, Cote, Minsky, Lourenco, & Howland, 2001). Research conducted in the 1980s, such as that by Leigh (1989), indicated that men were more interested in pleasure and women were more interested in intimacy, thus emphasizing traditional gender disparities. More recently, Ozer and colleagues (2003) suggested a more complex story. In their sample of African American male and female adolescents aged 14 to 20 years, no gender differences were observed on the most commonly endorsed reason to have sex: pleasure. The majority of young women (82%) and young men (89%) identified "feels good and to satisfy sexual desires" as a reason to have sex. The second primary reason, "having a boyfriend/girlfriend you love" was also identified by a majority of both genders, but more often by female (80%) than by male (66%) adolescents.
Personal Goals During the College Transition
Reasons for engaging in or not engaging in sexual behavior incorporate individuals' values and personal goals (Cooper, Shapiro, & Powess, 1998). Due to new demands and opportunities, the transition to college is an ideal time to examine links between personal goals and potentially risky behaviors, such as sexual activity (Maggs, 1997; Rhoades & Maggs, 2006; Salmela-Aro & Nurmi, 1997). Self-articulated personal goals may direct lives by guiding and organizing future behavior (Cantor et al., 1991; Cantor & Sanderson, 1998; Maggs, Vesterdal, Lee, & Korn, 2005; Nurmi, 1992, 1993). For example, a meta-analysis by Kirby (2002) identified factors associated with early initiation of sex among adolescents, including more perceived social and personal benefits of sex and a lower perceived risk of STDs, as well as nonsexual concerns such as less desire to have friends. This emphasizes the importance of understanding broader personal (e.g., friendship) goals as well as specific reasons for sex.
In response to open-ended questions about personal goals at college entrance, new students overwhelmingly report the importance of "getting good grades" and "making new friends" (Cantor, Norem, Niedenthal, Langston, & Brower, 1987; Maggs et al., 2005; Nurmi, 1993). Maggs and colleagues (2005) determined that academic and friendship goals predicted housing location, Greek affiliation, and alcohol use during the first year of college, beyond the impact of personality traits and adjustment. These results illustrate the pivotal role that personal goals play in guiding emerging adults' transition to college. In addition, dating goals may be particularly important for the study of sexual behavior. With relative consistency, college students rate love, fun, and friendship as relationship goal priorities (Clark, Shaver, & Abrahams, 1999; Roscoe, Diana, & Brooks, 1987). Little research, however, has examined the associations between these goals and behaviors affecting health (Clark et al., 1999; Cooper, 2002). Therefore, we focus on the associations of three salient and developmentally normative personal goals (academic, friendship, and dating goals) with sexual behavior.
Based on research indicating that a positive sense of achievement in developmentally normative domains was associated with a positive self-concept (Nurmi, 1993; Silbereisen & Noack, 1990), perceived achievement of dating, friendship, and academic goals is also investigated.
Reasons to Have Sex and Not to Have Sex
Distinguishing specific reasons for and against sex may lead to more precise prediction of sexual behavior as well as an improved understanding of the ways motivation affects behavior (Cooper, Shapiro, & Powers, 1998). Whereas public health research documents the prevalence and health consequences of sexual behaviors across demographic groups, the significance underlying sexual motivations and experiences have received less attention (Brooks-Gunn & Paikoff, 1993; Diamond, Savin-Williams, & Dube, 1999). Hill's (2002; Hill & Preston, 1996) sexual motivation model describes the perceived availability and likelihood of experiencing rewarding interpersonal incentives as a result of sexual behavior. Among college students, the most salient were experiencing pleasure, needing to be valued, providing and receiving comfort, and feeling and expressing affection. Similarly, Cooper and colleagues (1998) distinguished self-focused from other-focused sexual motivations, where the former were motivated by agentic or identity needs (e.g., affirming attractiveness) and the latter were motivated by the desire for intimacy.
A small amount of empirical research has focused on reasons for sexual behavior among adolescents or emerging adults (e.g., Ozer et al., 2003; Paradise, Cote, Minsky, Lourenco, & Howland, 2001). Surveys of adolescents (Eyre & Millstein, 1999; Hill & Preston, 1996; Leigh, 1989) have empirically identified practical reasons for sex (e.g., to reproduce) as well as emotional reasons... |
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