(U-WIRE) While I know that most students drink responsibly and many don’t drink at all, even I get caught up in the idea that Spring Break is a drunken bacchanalia.
I’m no puritan – I’m a sex-positive person who believes that alcohol, when used responsibly, can be a positive part of life. I do get worried when the spirits mix with the sex in dangerous ways, though.
“Stereotypically, Spring Break is a crazy party,” said Caryl Adams, peer educator at the University of Cincinnati. “Student health is at the forefront of our interest, so it’s really important to us to promote awareness of sexual health.”
In 2002, researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia reported some interesting trends after analyzing a decade’s worth of research on the cocktail of college students, alcohol and sexual behavior. They found that using alcohol is strongly related with deciding to have sex, having sex with multiple or casual sex partners, having sex for the first time and “decreased protective behavior,” such as not using protection against sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and pregnancy.
Five years later, researchers at Brown University reported similar results. They found people are more likely to have sex with new partners and have sex in “less committed relationships”(as opposed to long-term monogamous ones) when under the influence of alcohol. Drinking was also associated with having fewer discussions about topics that are important to maintaining sexual health – like negotiating boundaries, STI prevention and, for heterosexual pairings, pregnancy prevention.
In regards to that last part, they found when people in such couplings were drinking, they were less likely to use contraception.
Seems like these researchers figured out some of the “why?” behind an earlier established fact: in young people, sex under the influence is associated with higher rates of STIs and pregnancy. Poor decisions while drinking aren’t limited to what we say about supposed friends, their appearance or their choice in partners.
Reading those two studies, I couldn’t help but think about an article I’d stumbled on in the Archives of Sexual Behavior called “Sexual Regret in College Students.” Researchers from the University of Texas at San Antonio found three-fourths of the sexually active students they surveyed had regrets about some of their previous sexual activity.
A third of students said they regretted the influence of alcohol on their decisions. It’s easy to see how alcohol can play a role in other common regrets, such as making decisions that conflict with one’s morals and values – not using condoms, feeling pressured and doing things earlier than you planned to.
If your Spring Break is like most students’ and you’re not headed down south for MTV-style craziness, Adams offers a great tip to having a safer break and prepping for a safer quarter ahead: “It’s a good time to get tested – you don’t have to worry about the hassles of scheduling the clinic visit around your classes.”