Female students use condoms less frequently over the course of their first year of university, according to a U.S. study released in January.
The report, published by the Miriam Hospital in The Journal of Sex Research, surveyed 279 first-year female university students in Rhode Island.
“We know unprotected sex puts women at greater risk for unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, yet there has been a gap in research specifically focusing on changes in condom use during women’s college years,” lead research Jennifer Walsh said in a news release.
Walsh and her team found a correlation between a decrease in condom use and other factors such as lower socio-economic backgrounds, binge drinking and lower grade point averages.
“College women often engage in serial monogamy, resulting in multiple partners during the college years,” Walsh said.
All the more reason, she said, for continued condom use.
This decrease included condom use with all partners and with romantic partners specifically.
Even women who reported frequent condom use prior to their first year of college saw a decline of about 10 per cent in their use, the study found.
Part of that decline was linked to alternative contraceptive methods, including the pill.
“The greatest fear is not an STI, it’s pregnancy,” said Patty Allen, the nurse educator for Carleton Health and Counselling Services’ Mental Health and Wellness program.
There’s a misconception that HIV is no longer a threat and that any other STIs are completely treatable, Allen explained.
“Everything is about having great sex,” Allen said.
She said alcohol just amplifies the chances of making impulsive decisions like not using a condom.
She blames a lack of sexual education in high schools for the findings. High schools have been placing less of a focus on sexual education, she said. Now students are getting that education from their peers and from the media.
“It’s hard to compete with the glamour of television and mass media, because they never paint a bad picture,” she said.
There are also the social pressures that come with leaving home for the first time and going to university. Some young men feel the need to prove their masculinity by not using a condom.
“There’s huge pressure on young girls to fit in when they first come to university,” said Alena Peters, the programming co-ordinator for the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) Race Ethnicity and Cultural (REC) Hall. “It’s a big step for women to demand condom usage. They don’t have the confidence to demand condom usage.”
At Carleton, it’s not a matter of lack of availability, Allen and Peters agreed.
Condoms are freely available in all CUSA service centres as well as all health and counselling offices on campus. REC Hall also offers anonymous HIV testing at least once a semester.
