College students knowledge of sexually transmitted diseases
File(s)
Date
1999Author
Stoskopf, Angie L.
Publisher
University of Wisconsin--Stout
Advisor(s)
Rommel, Judy
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This study explores college student's knowledge of sexually transmitted diseases. The research instrument consisted of four sections: demographics, a Likert scale rating the participants attitudes about sex education and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), a Likert scale which rated how likely the participant would go to the listed source for accurate information about sexually transmitted diseases, and a list of twenty-one true-false statements to measure the participants knowledge about STDs. The study sample consisted of 103 undergraduate college students from the University of Wisconsin-Stout. The ages of the respondents ranged from 17 to 22. The sample was represented by 46% males and 54% females of which 97% were Caucasian. Ninety percent of the respondents went to a public high school. The average number of children per respondents family was found to be 2.7. The students attitudes about sex education are contradictory. The respondents indicated they thought teaching sex education in school encourages teens to have sex, yet they thought sex education should be taught in school. The students also felt it is a parents responsibility to teach their children about sex. The students responded that the most common place they would go to get accurate information about sexually transmitted diseases was their friends, followed by health professionals, mother, books and social agency. The least common place was found to be grandparents. The knowledge level of the participants about STDs was found by having the respondents answer to twenty-one true-false statements. The number of correct answers varied from answering 10 to 20 answers correct, with no one answering all of the statements correctly. Overall, when the amount of accurate knowledge was calculated and compared with how knowledgeable the students thought they were, it was found that college students believe they are more knowledgeable about sexually transmitted diseases than the test scores indicated.
Permanent Link
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1793/39347Description
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