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Self‐Esteem, Erotophobia, and Retention of Contraceptive and AIDS Information in the Classroom
Author(s) -
Gerrard Meg,
Kurylo Monica,
Reis Theresa
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1991.tb00525.x
Subject(s) - psychology , self esteem , social psychology , family planning , population , developmental psychology , sexually active , class (philosophy) , research methodology , medicine , environmental health , artificial intelligence , computer science
It has been well documented that people with negative emotional reactions to sex (e.g., “erotophobia,”“sex guilt”) have less knowledge about contraception than do people with more positive reactions. Recent research has suggested that this deficit is not related to an inability to learn the information, but is due at least in part to the fact that erotophobics actively avoid contraceptive information. The current study was designed to examine the role of erotophobia and high self‐esteem in resistance to learning sexual information. More specifically it compared pretest and posttest knowledge of contraception and AIDS in high self‐esteem and low self‐esteem, erotophobia, and erotophilic women in a university class on human reproduction. As expected, high self‐esteem erotophobic subjects were less Likely than other subjects to retain contraceptive and AIDS information presented in the class. Implications of this study for contraceptive and AIDS educational strategies are discussed.