STI-Testing among College Students: What Is There to Be Afraid Of?

Abstract

In this work I explore attitudes of college students regarding sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and STI-testing as a preventive health practice. Since the existing research on STIs and STI-testing has tended to be greatly limited by the methodological specifics of particular research designs, I employ a mixed methods approach in the hope of constructing a more comprehensive image of social reality. Through a two-stage process of data collection, I investigate STI-testing practices of college students and factors shaping these practices. Among these factors are fear of disclosure, knowledge about sexual health and STIs, confidence in adequacy of knowledge and various demographic characteristics. My findings suggest that different sets of factors are significantly linked to STI-testing practices for students who had been tested for STIs once and for those who had been tested multiple times.