Magister Scientiae - MSc / The motivation of this study is to assess the high risk behaviors that contribute to the spread of HIV and AIDS among the youth. The most influential high risk behaviours that contribute to the spread of HIV and AIDS are unprotected sexual intercourse and having more than one sexual partner.The population for this study includes all full time first year students who registered for the first time in 2006 that attended the orientation week. A stratified, sequential random sample was drawn from the students attending the orientation. / South Africa

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MSc (Med), Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2009 / Objective The study examined the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and risky sexual behaviour in young women living in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. Methods Quantitative data were drawn from the 2001–2005 Intervention with Microfinance and Gender Equity Study. The analyses were restricted to 705 sexually active young women aged 14–35 years. Logistic regression models were employed to assess the effect of socioeconomic status (estimated from household asset index and employment status, on risky sexual behaviours). Odds ratios (OR), adjusted odds ratios (AOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) are reported. Results After controlling for the potential confounding effects of wealth perception, age, level of education, marital status, birth control and HIV knowledge; there was no statistically significant association between asset index, or employment status and most of the risky sexual behaviours. However, students were significantly more likely to have experienced first sex at or before age 17 years (AOR: 3.80, 95% CI: 2.63, 6.11), and significantly less likely to have had more than three lifetime sex partners (AOR: 0.47, 95% CI: 0.29, 0.78). Discussion Given that age had emerged as a definite predictor of the sexual behaviours that were significantly associated with being a student, and that 75% of the students were aged 14-19 years, it is possible that the associations may be due to an age effect, or a cohort effect. That aside, the results suggest that women in general are equally at risk of HIV infection, hence further research is needed to determine other factors that enhance young rural women’s vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. Conclusion The study did not show any strong evidence to suggest that socio-economic status is associated with risky sexual behaviour. The findings underscore the need to re-examine the assumption that poverty drives risky sexual behaviour so that efforts to ensure that HIV prevention messages get across all strata of society. However, it is possible that SES as used in this study did not differentiate people well enough to be able to identify factors associated with risky sexual behaviour. It is recommended that more research be done to establish how other major factors besides wealth may enhance the vulnerability of women to HIV/AIDS. The current study however contributes to the growing evidence that the relationship between wealth and HIV/AIDS is either exaggerated or is very complex and should be considered when designing new policies, programs and interventions to alleviate the growing HIV incidence

To date, only one national study has examined patterns of adult sexual knowledge, attitudes and behaviour in New Zealand in the hope of improving sexual and reproductive health outcomes for all New Zealanders. This study was performed nearly two decades ago. The aim of this study is to explore current patterns of sexual health and wellbeing among a sample of adults from the Christchurch metropolitan area. Seven hundred and sixty seven participants were selected from the General and Maori electoral registers and invited to participate in an Internet-based self-administered anonymous survey. Data was collected on sexual health, knowledge, attitudes and behaviour and compared to five previous national studies in adult sexual health and wellbeing. Twenty-five men and 17 women responded to the survey. Overall, sexual health and wellbeing behaviours reported in this study are higher than those found in the five comparative studies. However, it is not clear whether this finding is an accurate reflection of the current sexual and reproductive health status of the sample population or whether participation bias has overestimated the rate of behaviours in question. In conclusion, the results from this study provide sufficient motive to continue on researching a possible shift in patterns of adult sexual health and behaviour over the last two decades in New Zealand.

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In the last thirty years there have been many research studies which have examined the reasons why adolescents and young adults engage in sexual behaviours. Most of these studies have lacked a theoretical basis, Consequently there are many links made between variables, but no consistency across studies, or attempts to develop an underlying theory to explain the results. However, there have been theoretical models developed to explain adolescents’ and young adults’ sexual decision making. Unfortunately, many of these models have not been empirically validated. This thesis attempts to address these deficiencies in the literature by utilising a theory of behaviour and applying it to adolescent and young adult sexual decision making. This theory is the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). Two longitudinal studies were conducted to examine the utility of an adaptation of the TPB to sexual decision making among adolescents and young adults. In the first study 58 adolescent males, aged between 14 years and 18 years participated in a longitudinal study using a questionnaire adapted from the Depth of Sexual Involvement Scale. In the second study, 194 young adults (156 female, 38 male) aged between 18 years and 21 years participated in a similar study. The first study found that intention to engage in behaviour was well predicted, although some of the variables in the model, did not in fact, contribute significantly to the prediction. The prediction of behaviour was less strong than that of intention. Study two found that intention to engage in behaviours was well predicted by the model. However, the degree to which intention led to behaviour was not well predicted. Overall, the results of these studies suggest that the TPB is a good theoretical basis from which to launch a systematic and theoretically informed explanation of adolescent and young adult sexual decision making. However, other factors may need to be added to the model to fully describe the decision making process and accurately predict behaviour. Suggestions are made for future research, as well as interventions that may arise as more knowledge is gathered using this paradigm.