Black-Canadian populations are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. In particular, Black-Canadian youth are noted to be at a greater risk of HIV infection due to their sexual risk behaviours. Many international studies indicate that open parent-youth sex communication may counter the potentially negative impact of peers, mass media and inadequate sexual health education programs on youth sexual risk behaviour. However, there is a paucity of Canadian studies on Black-Canadian parent-youth sex communication and ways to enhance this communication. As such, a qualitative based exploratory study was conducted using a community based research approach to determine the state of Black-Canadian parent-youth sex communication in Toronto, Ontario. Data was collected through 17 Key Informant interviews; that is individuals who work in Black Toronto communities and are knowledgeable about the subject matter. The results noted several factors which affect Black-Canadian parent-youth sex communication such as religion and cultural taboos surrounding the discussion of sexual health. The impact of these factors along with potential implications of this study on Black-Canadian populations and recommendations to enhance Black-Canadian parent- youth sex communication are discussed. / UOIT

The Men, Internet, and Sex with Men Study was a qualitative inquiry into how men who have sex with men (MSM) use the Internet in their sexual lives. The study responds to calls for HIV prevention to become more resonant with men’s online experiences. Men’s use of the Internet in their sexual lives was explored through structural interactionist and social risk theories. The study was a focused ethnography, drawing on semi-structured interviews with 23 MSM from the Greater Toronto Area. The sample included men aged 20 to 61, from a variety of sexual orientations (gay, bisexual, and heterosexual) and HIV statuses. Data analysis focused on the contextual aspects of men’s use of the Internet for sexual purposes and their sexual risk behaviour. This study focused on how men’s use of the Internet for sexual purposes was situated within and influenced by the contexts of their use. The participants’ online experiences were socially-situated from the outset: men saw the Internet as a “solution” to challenges in their sexual lives; their online interactions were structured by online rules of engagement and discourse from the offline gay community; and their sexual risk behaviour was mediated by social context and sexual interactions. The participants’ stories revealed the existence of an online subculture for sex seeking. Men also talked about the links between their online and offline experiences, where the Internet played a role in developing their sexuality but could also foster isolation and addiction. The men emphasized the importance of online HIV prevention and offered suggestions on how prevention more generally might be improved. The Internet holds both promise and pitfalls for HIV prevention. The findings from this study underline the need for prevention efforts that focus on individual- and structural-level prevention which can respond to men’s experiences both online and offline.

The Men, Internet, and Sex with Men Study was a qualitative inquiry into how men who have sex with men (MSM) use the Internet in their sexual lives. The study responds to calls for HIV prevention to become more resonant with men’s online experiences. Men’s use of the Internet in their sexual lives was explored through structural interactionist and social risk theories. The study was a focused ethnography, drawing on semi-structured interviews with 23 MSM from the Greater Toronto Area. The sample included men aged 20 to 61, from a variety of sexual orientations (gay, bisexual, and heterosexual) and HIV statuses. Data analysis focused on the contextual aspects of men’s use of the Internet for sexual purposes and their sexual risk behaviour. This study focused on how men’s use of the Internet for sexual purposes was situated within and influenced by the contexts of their use. The participants’ online experiences were socially-situated from the outset: men saw the Internet as a “solution” to challenges in their sexual lives; their online interactions were structured by online rules of engagement and discourse from the offline gay community; and their sexual risk behaviour was mediated by social context and sexual interactions. The participants’ stories revealed the existence of an online subculture for sex seeking. Men also talked about the links between their online and offline experiences, where the Internet played a role in developing their sexuality but could also foster isolation and addiction. The men emphasized the importance of online HIV prevention and offered suggestions on how prevention more generally might be improved. The Internet holds both promise and pitfalls for HIV prevention. The findings from this study underline the need for prevention efforts that focus on individual- and structural-level prevention which can respond to men’s experiences both online and offline.

Sammanfattning     Författare (Tillnamn, förnamn)                                                                                                                 Årtal                     Unis, Brian                                                                                                       2010              Arbetets titel   Sexuellt riskbeteende och självkänsla hos ungdomar Opublicerad uppsats för magisterexamen.                                                                                                Sidoantal (tot)                 Karlstad: Karlstads universitet. Fakulteten för samhälls- och livsvetenskaper.            Avdelning för samhällsvetenskap Social omsorgsvetenskap                                                                    47                 Examensarbete 15 hp i Magisterprogrammet Hälsofrämjande arbete, folkhälsoarbete och socialt förändringsarbete i lokalsamhället.   Bakgrund: Attityder till sex och sexuellt beteende särskilt hos ungdomar har genomgått stora förändringar de senaste åren med ökning av sexuellt transmitterade infektioner (STI), i synnerhet klamydia i ungdomsgruppen och oönskade graviditeter. Många studier visar att det inte finns något samband, en del studier visar ett svagt samband och några studier visar ett positivt samband mellan självkänsla och sexuellt riskbeteende.   Syftet: Syftet med studien var att beskriva självkänsla och sexuella vanor hos gymnasieungdomar. Ett annat syfte var att undersöka attityder, normer och self-efficacy i relation till ungdomars sexuella beteende.   Metod: Studiens design var en tvärsnittsstudie. Tre mätinstrument har använts för att studera bassjälvkänsla (Basic Self-Esteem Scale, kort version), förtjänad självkänsla (Earning Self-Esteem Scale, kort version) och faktorer som påverkar sexuellt riskbeteenden (Sexual Risk Behaviour Belief and Self-Efficacy scales, SRBBS). Enkäten innehöll även tilläggsfrågor om sexuellt beteende. Ett systematiskt slumpmässigt urval gjordes bland ungdomar mellan 16 och 18 år från två gymnasieskolor i en glesbygds kommun i mellersta Sverige och 139 ungdomar deltog i studien. Enkäterna förmedlades via mentorerna för respektive klass. Svarsfrekvens var 38%.   Resultat: Resultat visar att ungdomarna har en god självkänsla. Killarna har ett signifikant högre värde för bassjälvkänsla medan tjejerna redovisar ett högre signifikant värde för förvärvad självkänsla. Ungdomarna hade en positiv attityd till kondomanvändning men cirka hälften var dåliga i att använda kondom. Attityder till samlag visade på en liberal inställning. En tredjedel av ungdomarna hade inte erfarenhet av samlag. Drygt hälften av dem som hade erfarenhet angav ingen eller en sexpartner de senaste 12 månaderna. Det var ovanligt att ungdomarna använde alkohol i samband med samlag. Det framkom att self-efficacy var god när det gällde att avstå samlag, att kommunicera om kondomanvändning och att köpa och använda kondom. Tjejer hade en signifikant högre self-efficacy i att avstå från samlag än killar.     Nyckelord Självkänsla, sexuellt riskbeteende, adolescens / Abstract     Author (Last name, First name)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Year Unis, Brian                                                                                                                                                                                                                                2010 Title Sexuellt riskbeteende och självkänsla hos ungdomar (Sexual risk behavior and Self-Esteem in late adolescence)   Unpublished thesis for the degree Master of Community Care and Public Health                                   Pages (tot) Karlstad: Karlstad University. Faculty of Social and Life Sciences                                                          47 Department of Social Studies                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Background: Attitudes to sex and sexual behaviour especially among young people have gone through great changes in recent years with a rise in the number of sexually transmitted diseases (STD), especially Chlamydia, in the youth group and unwanted pregnancies. Many studies show a negative correlation, some show a weak correlation and some studies show a positive correlation between self-esteem and sexual risk behaviour.   Aim: The aim of the study was to describe self-esteem and sexual behaviour in high school students. Another aim was to investigate attitudes, norms, and self-efficacy in relation to young peoples’ sexual behaviour.   Method: The study’s design was a cross sectional study. Three instruments were used to study basic self-esteem (Basic Self-Esteem Scale, short form), earned self-esteem (Earning Self-Esteem Scale, short form) and factors which affect sexual risk behavior (Sexual Risk Behavior Belief and Self-Efficacy scales, SRBBS). The survey also contained supplementary questions on sexual behavior. A systematic random sample was made among students between 16 and 18 years old from two high schools in a small town in mid-Sweden and 139 students participated in the study. The survey was distributed to the students by their class mentors. The response rate was 38%.   Results: The results show that young people have good self-esteem. The boys have significantly higher scores for basic self-esteem while the girls’ results show significantly higher scores for earned self-esteem. The students had positive attitudes about condom use but around half of them were poor at using condoms. Attitudes about sexual intercourse showed a liberal view. A third of the students did not have any experience of sexual intercourse. A little more than half of those with experience answered that they had no partner or one partner in the last 12 months. It was uncommon that the students used alcohol in combination with sex. The results showed that self-efficacy was good when it came to refusing sex, in communication about condoms, and buying and using condoms. The girls had a significantly higher score for self-efficacy in refusing sex than the boys.     Key words:  Sexual risk behavior, Self-Esteem, Adolescence

The theory of planned behavior (TPB) is a useful model for understanding social-cognitive determinants (i.e. attitude, perceived norms, and perceived behavioral control) of sexual risk reduction among adolescents. However, research using the TPB has emphasized main effects and has not considered the possibility of moderated associations. In addition to testing main effects, this study assessed the interactions between TPB constructs and investigated the influence of previous sexual experience when predicting adolescents’ intentions to use condoms and delay sexual activity. Results indicate that the TPB functions differently depending on previous sexual experience and type of risk reduction behavior. Perceived norms were the only consistent predictor of intentions for condom use and delay. Attitude moderated perceived behavioral control when predicting condom use intentions among sexually experienced youth. However, no other interaction effects were detected. Future directions for research and implications for practice are discussed.

The goals of sexual health programming in youth populations frequently focus on reducing sexual risk taking, as these behaviours can lead to sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancies. A focus on enhancing distal factors such as social support is starting to be considered of greater importance in adolescent sexual health programming. The purpose of this thesis was to examine the relationship between social support and sexual risk taking behaviours in school age youth in Northern Nova Scotia in 2000. Social support was found to be a factor in some sexual risk taking behaviours, with different relationships seen for males and females. Depression and self-esteem also influence the relationship between social support and some sexual risk taking behaviours. Health programming with a wholistic approach, including a focus the role of support and psycho-social variables, may be a positive way to reduce sexual risk taking behaviours and support healthy adolescent sexuality.

abstract: The value of safe sex may be discounted based on contextual factors associated with an opportunity for sex. College students (n = 75) in a within-subjects study selected hypothetical sexual partners from a set of pictures and classified them based on attractiveness and estimated chance of having an STI. In the sexual delay discounting (SDD) task, participants rated their likelihood (0 – 100%) of waiting for some period of time (e.g., 3 hours) to have protected sex with their selected partners, when they could have immediate sex without protection. In the sexual probability discounting (SPD) task, participants rated their likelihood of having protected sex if the opportunity was uncertain (e.g., 50%), when they could have unprotected sex for sure (100%). All participants included in the final analyses were aware of and had a positive attitude towards protection against STIs as they indicated preference for immediate (or certain) protected sex. Results show that participants’ willingness to have safe sex systematically decreased as the delay to and odds against having safe sex increased. However, these discounting patterns were observed only in some partner conditions but not others, showing that preference for delayed (or uncertain) safe sex was altered by perceived attractiveness and STI risk of sexual partners. Moreover, the hyperbolic discounting model provided good to acceptable fit to the delay and probability discounting data in most-wanted and least-STI conditions. Gender differences in devaluation of safe sex were also found. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Psychology 2016

Multi-problem youth undergoing treatment for substance use problems are at high behavioral risk for exposure to sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Specific risk factors include childhood adversities such as maltreatment experiences and subsequent forms of psychopathology. The current study used a person-centered analytical approach to examine how childhood maltreatment experiences were related to patterns of psychiatric symptoms and HIV/STI risk behaviors in a sample of adolescents (N = 408) receiving treatment services. Data were collected in face-to-face interviews at two community-based facilities. Descriptive statistics and Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) were used to (a) classify adolescents into groups based on past year psychiatric symptoms, and (b) examine relations between class membership and forms of childhood maltreatment experiences, as well as past year sexual risk behavior (SRB). LPA results indicated significant heterogeneity in psychiatric symptoms among the participants. The three classes generated via the optimal LPA solution included: (a) a low psychiatric symptoms class, (b) a high alcohol symptoms class and (c) a high internalizing symptoms class. Class membership was associated significantly with adolescents’ self-reported scores for childhood sexual abuse and emotional neglect. ANOVAs documented significant differences in mean scores for multiple indices of SRB indices by class membership, demonstrating differential risk for HIV/STI exposure across classes. The two classes characterized by elevated psychiatric symptom profiles and more severe maltreatment histories were at increased behavioral risk for HIV/STI exposure, compared to the low psychiatric symptoms class. The high internalizing symptoms class reported the highest scores for most of the indices of SRB assessed. The heterogeneity of psychiatric symptom patterns documented in the current study has important implications for HIV/STI prevention programs implemented with multi-problem youth. The results highlight complex relations between childhood maltreatment experiences, psychopathology and multiple forms of health risk behavior among adolescents. The results underscore the importance of further integration between substance abuse treatment and HIV/STI risk reduction efforts to improve morbidity and mortality among vulnerable youth.

Like other developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa is faced with the following social welfare issues: teenage pregnancies, high HIV rates, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and a high number of abortions. South Africa is dealing with the repercussions of risky sexual behaviour of female youth on a daily basis and these include: youth with STDs, teenage pregnancies, HIV infection, cervical cancer, abortion, and youth selling their bodies for money. All of these can lead to serious health risks. There are psychological and behavioural factors associated with the risk of STDs like Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) (Gebregiorgis, 2000:15). Gebregiorgis reported that understanding sexual risk behaviours is one of the most important issues in preventing the spread of HIV and AIDS. Doing so will result in the design and implementation of health education programmes with the view of preventing these infections, or at least minimising their occurrence (Damtie, 2013:1). Very limited research has been done on this topic in South Africa and Africa. A need for a similar study was recommended in Ethiopia, where it was stated that no published empirical studies were available on factors relating to sexual risk behaviours in rural districts such as the Enemay District, East Gojjam Zone of Ethiopia (Anemaw, 2009:5). Hence, this study will explore and describe factors that may influence female youths to engage in unsafe sexual behaviours. The focus of the study was on the risky sexual behaviour of female youth in rural and urban areas. The goal of the study was to explore and describe the nature and consequences of risky sexual behaviour of female youth in rural and urban areas. The research question of this study was: do female youth in urban and rural areas have insight regarding the nature and consequences of their risky sexual behaviour? A qualitative approach was followed with a case study research design, as the researcher wanted to compare cases in urban and rural areas. The population was school-going females aged between 18 and 20 years in Gauteng province. There were two targeted groups of population. The first one was in Kameeldrift Village, Hammanskraal in Tshwane Municipality, Gauteng province, classified as a rural area. The second population was in Tembisa, Ekurhuleni Municipality, Gauteng province, classified as an urban area. In this study non-probability, purposive sampling was used to generate a sample. The criteria for sampling participants were as follows: ? Female youth between the ages of 18 and 20 years old. ? Female youth who are sexually active, as they request contraceptives at the clinic. ? Female youth who are from Ivory Park in Tembisa and Kameeldrift Village in Hammanskraal, both in Gauteng. Twelve participants, namely six female youth from a rural area and six from an urban area, who were at the above-mentioned clinics to access family planning within the above-mentioned age groups were chosen for the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants individually. Interviews were voice recorded with the permission of the participants and were transcribed by the researcher. The data was analysed by the researcher and themes and sub-themes were generated. The research findings were presented by providing a profile of the research participants and presenting a thematic analysis of the themes and sub-themes, including literature and verbatim quotes from the transcriptions to support the findings. The themes included the following: Theme 1 Knowledge of female youth regarding reproductive health; Theme 2 Knowledge of preventative measures and prevention of pregnancy; Theme 3 Sexual risk behaviour and exploration of multiple sexual partners or concurrent partners; Theme 4 Consequences of risky sexual behaviour; and Theme 5 Attitudes experienced as a result of consequences of risky sexual behaviour. The conclusions of this study reflect that that a limited understanding of reproductive health is a contributing factor to the sexual risk behaviour displayed by female youths in both rural and urban areas. It was further concluded that fear of dealing with the consequences of risky sexual behaviour does not prevent female youth from early sexual debut. Another conclusion is that early sexual debut is the biggest factor to risky sexual behaviour, as the majority of participants started engaging in sexual activities very early in life while they were not mature enough to negotiate safer sex practices. Recommendations of this study can be used by professionals working with female youth in the health field in order to understand the dynamics involved, such as the biological, psychological, and social influences that result in the sexual behaviour of female youth. These will address the complex issues related to environmental influences that shape risky sexual behaviour of female youth. / Mini Dissertation (MSW)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Social Work and Criminology / MSW / Unrestricted

The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether manipulated and biographical parent disengagement were associated with sexually risky attitudes and intentions. College women (N = 140) completed an online experiment in which they were asked to recall a time when one of their parents (father or mother) was either engaged or disengaged, write about it, and then complete a series of inventories measuring their sexual attitudes, sexual intentions, and biographical information. Experimental data were analyzed using a 2 (Parent Prime: father or mother) × 2 (Engagement Prime: engaged or disengaged) ANCOVA, with the Mini-K (Figueredo et al., Developmental Review 26:243–275, 2006) as the covariate. Experimental results showed a significant main effect for the engagement prime on sexually risky attitudes and intentions, F(1, 98) = 4.34, p =.04, ηpartial2 =.04. Women who recalled a time when a parent was disengaged (M = 24.25, SD = 6.84), endorsed more sexually risky attitudes and intentions than those who recalled a time when a parent was engaged (M = 21.83, SD = 7.31). Consistent with these results, correlational analyses also revealed that childhood and current biographical parent disengagement were significantly associated with sexually risky attitudes and intentions. Results are discussed from an evolutionary perspective using Life History Theory.