       Document 0031
 DOCN  M9640031
 TI    Sexual communication in the age of AIDS: the construction of risk and
       trust among young adults.
 DT    9604
 AU    Lear D; Centre for Public Health Research, Queensland University of;
       Technology, Faculty of Health, Australia.
 SO    Soc Sci Med. 1995 Nov;41(9):1311-23. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE
       MED/96118052
 AB    Sexually transmitted diseases are extremely prevalent among youth, and
       it is only by understanding the processes involved in negotiating sexual
       relationships that effective prevention and intervention programs can be
       designed. This study explores sexual communication among young adults,
       how gender and sexual orientation influence negotiation for safer sex,
       the strategies employed for risk reduction, and the barrier to safer
       sex. It assumes sexual behavior as a communicative form, both reflective
       and reflexive, subject to interpretation, and created interactively
       within and between sexual partners. Data from in-depth interviews with
       30 undergraduates at the University of California, Berkeley were
       triangulated with questionnaires (n = 159), secondary sources and
       informal interviews with university officials. Participants were
       representative of arts and science students, ethnically diverse and of
       varying sexual orientations. Interviews focused on the normative
       influences of family, school and friends regarding sexuality; and how
       relationships and sex were negotiated. They investigated how strategies
       for risk reduction, attitudes about HIV and testing, and contraceptive
       practices were managed differently by gender and sexual orientation and
       what the barriers to safer sex were in various situations. Interviews
       focused on the normative influences of family, school and friends
       regarding sexuality; how relationships were negotiated, and how trust
       and risk were constructed within relationships; how strategies for risk
       reduction, attitudes about HIV and testing, and contraceptive practices
       were managed differently be gender and sexual orientation; and what the
       barriers were to safer sex. Friends, the social culture at university,
       and the interaction of the two with the developmental tasks
       characteristic of the period between adolescence and adulthood were more
       important influences than parents or high school sex education classes
       in how sexual relationships were managed. How and whether friends talked
       about sex and practiced safe sex were strong normative influences in
       predicting safer sex among individuals. Negotiating for safer sex
       contains elements of impression management, requires assertiveness and
       takes constant effort, even among those who have made the most progress
       in incorporating it. Practicing safer sex involves a complicated process
       of sexual negotiation, requiring a degree of open communication about
       sexual desire and intent that is not widely available in this culture,
       and still less among young people. Risk and thus how sex is negotiated
       is assessed differently by gender, and varies further according to the
       degree of intimacy in the relationship or the sex act being
       contemplated. How sex is negotiated depends on the construction of risk
       and trust which differ by the type of relationship or sexual encounter
       being contemplated.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
 DE    Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/*PREVENTION & CONTROL/
       PSYCHOLOGY/TRANSMISSION  Adolescence  Adult  *Communication  Female
       Gender Identity  Health Behavior  Homosexuality, Male/PSYCHOLOGY  Human
       Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice  Male  Personality Assessment  Risk
       Factors  *Sex Behavior  Sex Education  Sexually Transmitted
       Diseases/PREVENTION & CONTROL/PSYCHOLOGY/  TRANSMISSION  Support,
       Non-U.S. Gov't  JOURNAL ARTICLE

       SOURCE: National Library of Medicine.  NOTICE: This material may be
       protected by Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.Code).

