An examination of the sexual health behaviors and cognitions of young U.S. community college students with respect to the intersection of gender and sexual identity

Abstract

Objective: To assess the sexual health of young community college students so that health promotion priorities can be identified and tailored programming can be implemented for this understudied population. Participants: A national sample of 1,678 community college students. Methods: Survey data was analyzed to understand trends in sexual health – including differences by gender and sexual identity. Results: While 54% of the sample have had vaginal sex and 16% have had anal sex, rates of condom use for these behaviors are low (respectively 51% and 42%). Only 52% of students have communicated with a medical professional about sexual health and 42% have been tested for STIs. Young men have the lowest odds of communicating with a medical professional about sexual health. Heterosexual men have particularly low odds of getting tested for STIs. Conclusions: Community college students need additional resources – eg, education, accessible health care – to promote their sexual health.

Keywords:

• Sexual health
• young adults
• community college
• gender identity
• sexual identity

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States and received approval from the Innovation Research & Training IRB (approval number: 20-007-1-EFF).

Data availability statement

The data analyzed during the current study are not publicly available but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under award number R01HD099134 to Tracy M. Scull. Research reported in this paper is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.