Representações sociais de adolescentes e jovens acerca da relação sexual e do uso do preservativo

This study aims to know the Social Representations on sexual intercourse and condom use in adolescents and young people. The theoretical or procedural theory of Denise Jodelet (2001) and Moscovici (2007), the Central Core Theory of Jean-Claude Abric (2001) and Willem Doise's Societal Theory (2002) was used as a theoretical framework. Exploratory qualitative and quantitative research was used. The sample was non-probabilistic for convenience, consisting of 79 students from two public schools. Participants answered a questionnaire and a Free Word Association Test with three inducing stimuli: sex, sex without a condom and sex with a condom. The data were processed with the help of IBM SPSS Statistic and openEvoc 0.84 software. The analysis of the results showed that adolescents and young people relate sex to pleasure, intimacy and love and not using a condom with danger, pregnancy, illness, HIV. It was concluded that adolescents and young people have information about the dangers of not using condoms, however, for them, condom use decreases sexual pleasure.