RISKY SEXUAL BEHAVIOR

The Risky Sexual Behavior Engaged In By Adolescents

The Risky Sexual Behavior Engaged In By Adolescents

Introduction

Risky sexual behaviors encompass a wide variety of behaviors from engaging in unprotected sex, maintaining multiple sexual partners, or participating in extramarital affairs. These sexual behaviors maintain known potential to endanger physical health, emotional well-being, and risk family relationships and reputations, operating in contrast to self-preservation. Motivations associated with risky sexual behaviors explain in part the reasons why such behaviors occur despite knowledge of harmful outcomes and previous learned experiences. Understanding these motivations may also provide insight into how individuals who engage in risky sexual behaviors may be able to change their behaviors.

Discussion

Causes

The social problem of risky sexual behaviors remains important for study given the continually climbing rates of adults infected with sexually transmitted diseases and the failure of sexual health education programs to positively impact individuals' sexual practices (Ehrhardt, Krumboltz, & Koopman, 2006). Despite widespread knowledge of the dangers of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases and the numerous examples of the downfall of high-profiled individuals who lose jobs, family, and status as a result of their sexual behaviors, individuals still engage in risky sexual behaviors. As a result, addressing this particular social problem requires more than just distributing knowledge to individuals. Understanding the motivations associated with risky sexual behaviors, counselors and therapists may be able to positively impact the behaviors of their clients. Increased knowledge of the reasons why individuals engage in risky sexual behaviors will hopefully influence how sexual health information remains distributed and decrease the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. The motivations of risky sexual behaviors include self-efficacy, power, and personality characteristics.

Motivating Factors

Self-efficacy theory deals with how well individuals expect themselves to perform under certain circumstances. The development of beliefs related to self-efficacy results from past experiences, witnessing the behaviors of others, and talking with others, as well as physiological states within the body that signal appropriate behavioral reactions. The impact of self-efficacy on behavior may involve the degree to which individuals put forth effort to engage in certain tasks, the choice of tasks chosen, and how individuals will react to unexpected challenges and new experiences (Reeve, 2005). In relation to risky sexual behaviors, self-efficacy may be measured a number of different ways. Semple, Patterson, and Grant (2004) examine how self-efficacy measures the extent to which individuals feel they can negotiate safe sex practices with potential partners ...