Sexual infection transmission in young people: what is maintaining their risk exposure?

Abstract

Sexually transmitted infections are one of the most prevalent risks among young population. In Spain, its incidence has increased in recent years, being one of the most affected countries in Europe. Regardless of diverse preventive efforts have been made to reverse this situation, these have not shown the expected effectiveness. Therefore, it is necessary to study in depth those factors that could maintain risk behaviors. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate the role of psychological factors in the prevention of sexually transmitted infections among young people. For this, 984 young people between 18 and 24 years old (32.7% men and 67.3% women), sexually active, completed an online questionnaire about lifestyles with a specific section on sexual health. Following the analyses, only 37.2% of them use condoms systematically in vaginal sex and 12.1% in anal sex. Moreover, a greater use of condoms is connected to being afraid of sexually transmitted infections (rho = .098; p = .002), higher age of onset in sexual practices (rho = .075; p = .021), lower frequency of alcohol consumption (rho = -.069, p = .037), lower levels of anxiety (rho = -.094, p = .003), greater satisfaction with the image body (rho = .066; p = .033) and less use of pornography (rho = -.107; p = .001). In particular, in addition to the fear of sexually transmitted infections, the lower use of pornography and less anxiety would also contribute to a greater likelihood of condom use (Chi2 = 29.18, p = .001). Thus, the need to include these variables in sexual risk prevention programs to improve their effectiveness among the young population seems to be evident.