The college hook−up culture is associated with many images — one−night stands, sloppy encounters and copious amounts of alcohol, to name a few. The lack of monogamy on some college campuses frequently comes under attack by health officials and student wellness groups who decry the culture as risky and unsafe. Yet recent studies show that when it comes to using condoms, teenagers and college students may practice the smartest sex of all.
Last year's National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior found that the one−third of surveyed adolescents who were having intercourse were frequently using condoms with their sexual partners. In the same survey, adults in their 40s, 50s and 60s who described their sexual partners as "casual" as opposed to "relationship partners" used protection at substantially lower rates than teens. Males aged 18 to 24 were less than half as likely to use condoms as adolescent males, but this group still used condoms far more than those in their 40s, 50s, and 60s.
Margaret Higham, medical director of Health Service, attributed the results of the study to differing educational experiences between the generations.
"Reproductive health is a big concern and a big issue for young adults," she said. "The general medical office, particularly for older adults, is not geared towards that. They're really focusing on the health issues that are most prevalent at that age, which are obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cancer screenings — things like that."
Issues of sexual health are simply not geared toward older adults, Higham said. These topics tend to come up in settings where adults do not find themselves on a day−to−day basis.
"Honestly, a lot of them probably haven't been exposed to the newer health issues or health education issues around sexuality and preventing [sexually transmitted infections] because they're not in a place in their life where that happens," Higham said. "That often happens in school, through physician visits, through educational programs. But they're not at school — they're out in the working world, and that's probably pretty far off their radar screens."
For the current generation of college students, education about condom use has been used in part to respond to the growing threat of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). For previous generations, a lack of information surrounding STIs led to minimal education about the topic.
"When those adults grew up, there really was very little information about STIs," Higham said. "They were not well understood, certainly there was little publicity about them. There was no HIV back then — that's a more recent phenomenon."
Sexual education in prior generations, she said, principally focused on contraception and left out much of the knowledge that adolescents today consider normal to learn about in school or from doctors.
But even with increased education about the perils of risky sexual behavior and STIs, not everyone in the younger age group is responsive to the necessity of using condoms. Higham said there was a lack of uniformity in the attitudes of adolescents and young adults, explaining that very young teenagers seem to be the most concerned about safety and health, while those aged 16 to 19 often express feelings of invulnerability, an observation consistent with the national study.
"I think in general the younger teenagers, the really young ones, are very concerned about safety and health. … I feel that their responses and viewpoints are different than I see when talking to high schoolers or students 18, 19 years old coming into college. I think when you look at adolescents as a group, there's actually not uniformity," she said.
At Tufts, it's unclear just how safe sex is. Susan Golbe, former president and a current member of VOX at Tufts, a group affiliated with Planned Parenthood that promotes reproductive rights and safe and healthy sexual behavior on campus, has been disappointed with the administration's response to initiatives for condom distribution. Earlier this year, the group requested surplus funding from the Tufts Community Union Senate in order to have condom machines built into all the dorms, but the Senate denied their request.
VOX also tried placing manila envelopes filled with condoms in the laundry rooms of dorms, but this plan proved unsuccessful as well.
"Basically everyone would just steal the envelopes full of condoms," Golbe said. "It was impossible for us to keep them full."
Students, Golbe said, are also often hesitant to take free condoms from VOX's informational events, such as the Sex Fair and Oh Megan.
"I think that, in general, people want to seem cool and will not necessarily take a condom from our table," she said. "They'll kind of look at the condoms on our table, we'll tell them that they're welcome to take whatever they want and then they'll tell us that they don't ever need condoms, which seems unlikely."
But whether they are public about their condom use or not, at least some Tufts students seem to be aware of the risks that come with sexual behavior.
"I make it a point to always use condoms no matter what," one senior, who wished to remain anonymous, said. "I've heard too many horror stories about STDs and accidental pregnancies to take any risks."
