Year

2020

Season

Summer

Paper Type

Master's Thesis

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Degree Name

Master of Arts in General Psychology (MAGP)

Department

Psychology

NACO controlled Corporate Body

University of North Florida. Department of Psychology

First Advisor

Dr. Elizabeth R. Brown

Second Advisor

Dr. Elissa M. Barr

Department Chair

Dr. Lori Lange

Abstract

College-age students are an at-risk population for an unplanned pregnancy. Current sexual health interventions focus on methods of preventing pregnancy but fail to address communal motivations (being oriented towards the needs of others) which are important in relationships. Current interventions are long and require an increased attention span which is less effective today because the current generation of adolescents has a decreased attention span. The present study develops a WISE sexual health intervention (a simple yet targeted intervention) that incorporates sexual communal motivations to reduce unplanned pregnancy in college-age students. It was hypothesized that participants will have increased condom use intentions and future condom use behaviors in the experimental condition compared to the control condition. Relationship power (RP) was hypothesized to moderate sexual communal motivations, and influence condom use intentions and future condom use behavior. Participants with high RP were also hypothesized to have a significant increase in condom use intention and future condom use behavior in the experimental condition compared to the control condition. Participants watched a short sexual health education video followed by a reflection task where participants reflected on the material presented in the video (control) or applied the material to their life (experimental). Although preliminary results suggest no difference between the control and experimental condition in predicting condom use motivations and condom use intentions, exploratory findings found being other-oriented through communal motivations was influential regardless of condition. The present findings have implications for developing an impactful intervention to address unplanned pregnancy.

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