by John A. Tures
Associate Professor of Political Science
LaGrange College
In her May 2009 column (re-run from her January 2007 column of the same name) “Unprotected,” Mona Charen describes a sad state of sexual affairs for women in college (http://lagrangenews.com/bookmark/2627646). But before you pull your daughter out of school, or hide those college applications to protect her chastity, let’s take a closer look at the evidence.
Charen’s substantiation is based on the book “Unprotected” by Dr. Miriam Grossman, who describes the experiences she sees as the psychiatrist at the student health services at UCLA. Though the stories are heart rending and realistic, the column reader perhaps wonders not only how pervasive they are…could they simply be a small sample or a representative indicator of what college students face today? And how do the behaviors of college students compare to those of their age who choose not to go to college?
I did a little searching, and found a study conducted by the University of Washington, published in the Journal of Adolescent Health. It was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, (http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleID=42372), and reported by Joel Schwarz on June 5, 2008.
The study found that college students were actually far less likely to have sex than those of their age who do not go to college. Additionally, collegians were less likely to have casual sex, less likely to have high-risk sex, and more likely to use protection. Those who live at home (away from college) are more likely to have sex, and engage in riskier sex.
“The kids who were doing risky sexual behavior in high school are continuing to do it. And the kids who were engaging in that behavior in high school generally are less likely to go to college,” said Jennifer Bailey, a research scientist with the UW’s Social Development Research Group and lead author of the paper, as quoted in the Schwarz article.
Bailey pointed out that the advantage colleges have….the ability to spread the word about prevention measures. “The others are harder to reach with a prevention message once they are out of high school,” she tells the Schwarz article.
Now it is important to note that the number of folks having sex in college is not zero percent, so health services at these schools have their work cut out for them. And as long as they don’t get micromanaged by politicians in the process, they can employ the best prevention methods possible, without dismissing the abstinence plan. I’ve got a vested interest in this battle, given that I just watched my six-year-old daughter graduate from kindergarten, and hope she’ll join the collegiate class of 2025.
But it seems that Charen and Dr. Grossman have missed the biggest “at risk group” for the problems women face: those who do NOT go to college. Whether living on their own or staying at home with their parents, this group clearly needs much more attention for fighting the rampant diseases and disorders than those who attend college.
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