Study finds women use condoms less the longer they're in college
By Rachel KrantzFebruary 29th, 2012, 1:30 pmComments (7)
Apparently college doesn't always make you smarter. Especially when you've been drinking heavily.
A new study published in the Journal of Sex Research finds that women in their freshman year of college use condoms less and less the longer they're in school. Results showed that women started out school with moderate to high levels of condom use, only to steadily use them less over the course of their freshman year.
Not surprisingly, the study also found that women who binge drink more are less likely to use condoms. So are women with lower GPAs and poorer socioeconomic backgrounds. While this study was only based on 279 freshman women at Northeastern University, it's probably safe to say you could find this trend at other colleges, with exceptions for religious schools and colleges populated by lame-wads.
Hopefully, this information can be used to better educate freshman women about sex. But where are freshman men in all this? I only hope scientists are studying their habits too. After all, in this crazy world, we all need to suit up.
Commentarium (7 Comments)
I have no idea how accurate this could be, but could reduced condom use the be result of being in a long term stable relationship and relying on other forms of birth control?
That's what I thought too.
n=279 at one University.
Give me a break.
"with exceptions for religious schools and colleges populated by lame-wads." I actually don't get the "lame-wads" joke. Seriously, what is that supposed to mean?
I don't think 279 people at one university is at all a statistically signficant. Furthermore, I agree with Evan and Jinna that long term stable relationships and reliance on other forms of birth control are probably the reason that these 279 women are using less condoms.
I don't care about any of this as long as I can force someone else to pay for the condoms. Don't people realize how unfortunate I am to be attending a $50k/yr LSchool?
n=279, as others have said but also a relatively small school where, presumably, students gravitate toward longer term relationships as they get to know one another more and, potentially, look to become monogamous.
An entirely flawed study but what do you expect from The Journal of Sex Research?