Exposing oneself and one's partner to sexual risk-taking as perceived by young Swedish men who requested a Chlamydia test

Abstract

Objectives To explore young men's perceptions of (i) the risk for themselves and their partners in connection with unprotected intercourse, and (ii) the main barriers to practising safe sex.

Methods Qualitative latent content analysis of interviews involving 22 Swedish males aged 16–20, who requested a Chlamydia test.

Results The main categories identified were: (1) Low perceived threat regarding sexual risk-taking - personal consequences in focus. Threats could be both immediate and distant with varying preventative strategies. The young men worried more about their personal consequences than about the consequences for their partner. They were confident that an unintended pregnancy would be terminated, leading to decreased motivation for sharing pregnancy-preventing practices with their partner. (2) Perceived barriers to practising safe sex. Main barriers to condom use were interference with spontaneity, pleasure reduction, fear of loosing one's erection, and embarrassment or distrust. Other obstacles were the girl's use of hormonal contraception, and difficulties in communicating about safe sex.

Conclusion The young men did not seem to worry about risks when having unprotected sex. To protect men's – and women's – sexual and reproductive health, efforts are needed to increase the former's contraceptive responsibilities and awareness of consequences related to unprotected sex.

Keywords:

• Sexual risk-taking
• Attitudes
• Men
• Chlamydia
• Abortion
• Condom use

Acknowledgements

Financial support was provided by the Family Planning Fund in Uppsala, the Swedish Research Council and Uppsala County Council (The Swedish Research Council: Dnr 2005-5863.). We thank the midwives who helped recruiting participants to this study.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.