Relationship between sexual empowerment and risky sexual behaviours

Abstract

The present study explored the relationship between empowerment and risky sexual behaviours. Participants were 104 University students. All participants individually completed a questionnaire package that included the Scale of Sexual Risk Taking and the Sexual Empowerment Scale. The latter, is an instrument developed for this study as a measure of sexual empowerment in undergraduate students. The questionnaires were followed by a 30-minute interview on the determinants ofboth safe and unsafe sexual behaviours. Students engaging in high-risk behaviour were compared to low-risk students, using both quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative measures of sexual empowerment failed to predict Risky Sexual Behaviours although a variety ofaspects of sexual empowerment emerged in the qualitative data. These findings are interpreted as support for treatment programs which focus on individual needs as opposed to a general increase in sexual empowerment.