COLLEGE-STUDENTS PERCEPTIONS OF THE PREVALENCE OF RISKY SEXUAL-BEHAVIOR

In contrast to previous research which has largely focused on students ' perceptions of other students' risk for contracting HIV/STDs, this s tudy assessed single heterosexual college students' (96 men, 121 women ) perceptions of the prevalence of different sexual behaviours which i ncrease a person's risk for HIV/STD infection (e.g. multiple sexual pa rtners, unprotected sexual intercourse, one-time sexual encounters). C onsistent with previous research which has demonstrated an overestimat ion bias in judging others' risk for HIV/STD infection, students' esti mates about the prevalence of sexual behaviours increasing a person's risk for HIV/STD infection were similarly overestimated relative to re ported base rates. Gender differences were also observed. Although wom en generally tended to give higher prevalence estimates than men, over all, participants gave higher estimates when judging the behaviour of men compared to women. Both motivational and cognitive explanations of our data are discussed. Our findings highlight the importance of deve loping sexual risk reduction programmes which (a) enable students to m ake more accurate personal risk judgements, (b) increase students' awa reness of the riskiness of their own sexual behaviours, and (c) promot e positive health changes (e.g. increased condom use) in normative sex ual behaviour among college students.