Danger, disease and ‘don't' : Young adults reflect on the impact of messages about sex on their first sexual experiences

Seventy-five college freshmen and sophomores participated in focus groups at a Northeastern state university, during 2010. Students were recruited via campus-wide emails with the subject “Would you tell us about your first time?” Groups lasted 1.5 hours, and were audiotaped and transcribed. Groups ranged from 5-12 students, and were divided into male or female groupings. Two separate groups were offered exclusively for LBGTQ students who preferred that option. MaxQDA qualitative analysis software was used to categorize and code data on specific themes related to the research questions. As part of the discussion of students' first sexual experiences, participants were asked to describe the messages they received from parents and schools about sex, prior to their sexual initiation. Overwhelmingly, students' most enduring memories of high school sex education were negative messages, with a primary focus on disease, including photos, models, and discussions of diseased genitalia. Healthy relationships, sex as a normal part of human development, pleasure, as well as sexual orientation were rarely mentioned in participants' school sex education memories. Students' recollections of messages they received at home reflected limited or no discussion about healthy sexuality; some discussion, mostly in the form of warnings, and admonitions to wait; and rare reflections of positive messages. Discussion will include gender differences in descriptions of home and school messages,the potential impact of these messages on young people's decisions about and experiences of their sexual debuts and the implications of these findings for training parents and health educators and development of effective sexuality education programs.