College students' perceptions of the prevalence of risky sexual behaviour

Abstract

In contrast to previous research which has largely focused on students' perceptions of other students' risk for contracting HIV/STDs, this study assessed single heterosexual college students' (96 men, 121 women) perceptions of the prevalence of different sexual behaviours which increase a person's risk for HIV/STD infection (e.g. multiple sexual partners, unprotected sexual intercourse, one-time sexual encounters). Consistent with previous research which has demonstrated an overestimation bias in judging others' risk for HIV/STD infection, students' estimates about the prevalence of sexual behaviours increasing a person's risk for HIV/STD infection were similarly overestimated relative to reported base rates. Gender differences were also observed. Although women generally tended to give higher prevalence estimates than men, overall, participants gave higher estimates when judging the behaviour of men compared to women. Both motivational and cognitive explanations of our data are discussed. Our findings highlight the importance of developing sexual risk reduction programmes which (a) enable students to make more accurate personal risk judgements, (b) increase students' awareness of the riskiness of their own sexual behaviours, and (c) promote positive health changes (e.g. increased condom use) in normative sexual behaviour among college students.