Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 12, 2026

Treatment Model for Young Patients with Psychogenic Erectile Dysfunction and Resultant Infertility
Published on: May 30, 2025
Comprehension of sexual situations and its relationship to risky decisions by young adults
V L Patel1, N A Yoskowitz, D R Kaufman
1Department of Biomedical Informatics, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA. patel@dbmi.columbia.edu
Abstract:
This research examines the nature of the relationship between comprehension of sexual situations and decisions about risky sexual behaviour by young adults. Participants were 56 heterosexual students from Brooklyn College, NY, located in a community with a relatively high prevalence of HIV/AIDS. They read a sexual encounter scenario and verbally responded to open-ended questions and made decisions about condom use. The responses were recorded, transcribed and analysed. Prior beliefs were evaluated based on participants' initial responses to the scenario. High and low risk individuals showed a specific set of beliefs about safer sex practices, and they processed information differently during comprehension of the sexual situation. Low-risk individuals focused on cues that show "risks of unprotected sex", with the goal of not taking any risks. High-risk individuals processed given information as emotionally related, with the goal of 'immediate pleasure' in the situation. These processing variables influenced the young adults' decisions to practice (or not) safer sex behaviour. Educational interventions need to be tailored for different patterns of behaviour. The goal of a customization approach is to intervene at appropriate weak links in the decision-making process, including any contradictory or unjustified beliefs, to promote safer sex behaviour.
Related Concept Videos
Criticisms of the Evolutionary Perspective
Evolutionary psychology provides one explanation for these findings, suggesting...
Revisionist Views of Adolescent and Adult Cognition
Amebiasis
Psychosexual Theory of Development
The Five Stages of Psychosexual Development
Freud's psychosexual...
Cognitive Development During Adolescence
Psychosexual Stages of Personality: Genital

