AL: Sexual behaviors and safer sex practices of college students at a commuter campus. J Am Coll Health

Abstract. The sexual behaviors and safer sex practices of college students at a midwestern commuter university are described. Responses from a student sample of 1.919 indicated that slightly more than 10 % used condoms consistently. The most frequently cited reasons for not using condoms were monogamy (83%) and preferring other forms of birth control (3 1 %). The leading reason for consistent condom use was fear of HIV infection (72%). Approximately 75 % indicated they talked with their sexual part-ners about HIV prevention; women reported communicating sig-nificantly more often than men did (p <.OOOl). Seventy percent of the sample reported they had only one sexual partner during the past year. Students who had multiple partners during the past year were more likely to practice such unsafe sexual practices as not using condoms and not communicating about HIV prevention. Unsafe sexual practices occur on nontraditional university cam-puses just as frequently as they do on more traditional campuses, thus supporting the need for HIV prevention programs on every college and university campus. Key Words: college students, communication, commuter col-leges, condoms, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), sexual behaviors s of June 1997, 612,078 AIDS cases had been reported in the United States, and 86,972 people A were infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Although advances in the treatment of HIV infection have had a substantial impact on mortality associ-ated with this disease, the morbidity produced by Alice Prince is un assistant professor in the Depurtment o