ABSTRACT
The purpose of the study was to compare the self-reported sexual behavior of college students with their perceptions of the sexual behavior of their peers. A questionnaire was administered to 213 undergraduate students enrolled in a sex education course offered at a large midwestern university. The instrument contained 40 items asking for the self-reported frequency of participation and the perceived frequency of peer participation for eight sexual behaviors.
An analysis of variance statistic, utilizing repeated measures, was calculated to determine statistically significant differences between the self-reported behaviors of male and female subjects and the perceived sexual behaviors of their male and female peers on each of the eight sexual behaviors. Results indicated that overall, neither males nor females reported to be very sexually active regardless of the behavior. However, males reported participating more frequently than females in seven of the eight sexual behaviors under study. The interaction effect of sex by referent was statistically significant (p <.01) for seven of the eight behaviors. Both males and females perceived more active sexual behavior for their peers (both female and male) than for themselves.