U-M Study Finds People Irrationally Afraid Of Sex Risks
DETROIT (CBS Detroit) Actor Charlie Sheen's HIV-positive status has put sexually transmitted diseases back at the forefront of the news cycle.
In reality, people are much more likely to be killed in a car crash than die from risky sexual behavior.
But they don't seem to realize that. A new study by the University of Michigan found that people overestimate the risk for sexually transmitted infection when compared to other health risks.
Using a series of studies, Terri Conley, U-M associate professor of psychology and women's studies, examined the extent to which sexually transmitted infections and sexual behavior were perceived as risky compared to other -- more deadly -- behaviors.
Study participants were asked to make judgments about one of two risky behaviors—one associated with STIs (unprotected sex) and the other associated with driving. The researchers also assessed the negative perceptions of people who transmit STIs compared to those who transmit another nonsexual disease.
Participants were asked to estimate how many of 1,000 people would be expected to die driving from Detroit to Chicago (about 300 miles) compared with the same number expected to die from an HIV/AIDs-related cause. Most believed 17 times as many people would die from contracting HIV in one encounter.
Data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Highway Traffic Safety report, on average, that a person is 20 times more likely to die from a car accident on a trip of 300 miles.
"In other words, participants' impressions of the riskiness of unprotected sex compared with driving were highly inaccurate," Conley said.
Participants viewed unprotected sex as being more risky than the more mundane, but more dangerous activity of driving, she said.
Why is that? It's all about the stigma, researchers found.
Anyone with such an infection may find themselves feeling stigmatized by others, study authors found.
"Stigmatizing behaviors does not prevent unhealthy activities from occurring," said Terri Conley, U-M associated professor of psychology and women's studies. "When STIs are stigmatized, it prevents people who suspect they have STIs from getting tested or informing their partners about the possibility of disease exposure."
One interesting finding is that a person who unknowingly transmits chlamydia and causes a partner to have to take antibiotics is perceived more negatively than someone who transmits the H1N1 flu that results in a person's death.
Understanding the stigma is critical in health contexts, Conley said.
The findings appear in the current issue of International Journal of Sexual Health.
