Stress, Self-Esteem, Loneliness, Sex Guilt and Sexual Risk in College Students

STRESS, SELF-ESTEEM, LONELINESS, SEX GUILT AND SEXUAL RISK IN

COLLEGE STUDENTS

Brooke Gomez, Eliot Lopez M.S., Chwee-Lye Chng Ph.D. & Mark Vosvick Ph.D.

Center for Psychosocial Health Research

BACKGROUND•College life is stressful. Young college students must adapt to a host of behavioral, academic and social challenges that often lead to low self esteem, loneliness, guilt and risky sexual behaviors (Elkins, D. Forrester, S. & Noël-Elkins, A. 2011).

•The stressful environment of college life can undermine self-esteem in students, particularly those without strong coping skills. Students may turn to risky sexual and drug behaviors to escape from the pain of low self-esteem (McNair, Carter & Williams, 1998).


BACKGROUND•Loneliness, a common emotion among students experiencing stress, contributes to risky sex (Johnson, E. 2007). Torres and Gore-Felton (2007) postulate that risky sex is used as a means to cope with the anxiety created by loneliness.

•Students who engage in sexual behaviors on college campuses in response to loneliness sometimes do so in violation of personal moral codes, resulting in sex guilt. Mosher and Cross (1971) found that college students who report high levels of sex guilt were less sexually experienced than those not as guilty. To date, research reveals that sex guilt and risky sex are negatively correlated (Stuewig et al., 2009).


THEORETICAL MODEL


Stress

Challenge

Threat

Primary Appraisal

Positive Stress

Secondary Appraisal

Negative Stress; Increased Risk

Positive Stress

Reappraisal

Transactional Model of Stress and Coping (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984)

HYPOTHESES•Stress is positively associated with sexual risk.

•Self-esteem is negatively associated with sexual risk.

•Loneliness is positively associated with sexual risk.

•Sex guilt is negatively associated with sexual risk.

•Stress, self-esteem, loneliness and sex guilt make up a significant proportion of the variance in sexual risk.


PARTICIPANTS•Participants were recruited through the use of flyers at the University of North Texas.

•Students received extra credit for their psychology classes as an incentive.

•Participants were required to be at least 18 years of age and fluent in English.

•IRB approval was obtained and participants signed informed consent.


DEMOGRAPHICS


N= 504Variable N % M(SD) RangeFemale 383 76%

African American 104 20.6%

European American

289 57.3%

Latino/a 47 9.3%

Other 64 12.8%

Age (years) 21.1(4.93) 18-56

Education (years) 13.9(1.75) 11-22

PROCEDURES•Participants filled out electronic, self-report surveys.

•We used univariate analysis, bivariate analysis and a hierarchical linear regression analysis to analyze our data.


MEASURESPerceived Stress Scale

(Cohen, Kamarck & Mermelstein, 1983; α=.84)

•10 item measure on a 5 point likert-type scale from 0 (Never) to 4 (Very Often)

•Higher scores indicate higher stress

• Item examples include “In the last month, how often have you been able to control irritations in your life?” and “In the past month how often have you felt nervous and ‘stressed?’”

•Demonstrates concurrent and predictive validity (Cohen, Kamarck & Mermelstein, 1983)


MEASURESRosenberg Self-Esteem Scale

(Rosenberg, Schooler, & Schoenbach, 1989; α=.92)

•11 item measure on a 4 point likert-type scale from 1 (strong agree) to 4 (strongly disagree)

•Higher scores indicate higher self-esteem

•Item examples include “I am able to do things as well as other people” and “I take a positive attitude toward myself”

•Demonstrates concurrent, predictive and construct validity


MEASURESUCLA Loneliness Scale (Russell, 1996; α=.91)

•10 item measure on a 4 point likert-type scale from 1 (I often feel this way) to 4 (I never feel this way)

•Higher scores indicate higher loneliness

•Item examples include “How often do you feel you cannot tolerate being so alone?” and “How often do you feel completely alone?”

•Demonstrates construct validity


MEASURESRevised Mosher Guilt Inventory

(Mosher, 1998; α=.90 )Sex guilt subscale: .88

•114 items, measured on 7 point likert type scale from 0 (Not at all true of/for me) to 6 (Extremely true of/for me)

•Higher scores indicate higher guilt

•Item examples include “Sex relations before marriage are wrong and immoral” and “Masturbation should not be practiced”

•Demonstrates construct validity


MEASURES

Sexual Risk Questionnaire (Kalichman et. al, 2000)

•37 item inventory

•Higher scores indicate higher sexual risk

•Measured by selecting either “yes” or “no”


DATA ANALYSIS


Mean(SD)Possible Range

Actual Range Calculated α

Stress 19.3(6.19) 0-40 4-36 .85

Self-esteem 18.1(5.33) 10-40 10-33 .89Loneliness 27.2(6.60) 0-40 10-40 .91

Sex guilt 99.0(45.33) 0-263 19-263 . 95

Sexual Risk 7.6(5.19) 0-37 0-25 -

Univariate

DATA ANALYSISBivariate

p<.05*, p<.001**


1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

1. Age -

2.Gender .08 -

3.Education .30* .13 -

4. Ethnicity .11 .15 -.06 -

5. Stress -.25** .16* -.12** -.03 -

6. Self-esteem -.15 .04 -.21** .03 .03** -

7. Loneliness .05 .06 -.07 -.16* -.21** .40** -

8. Sex Guilt -.09 .18* -.04 -.06 .14 .18 .16* -

9. Sexual Risk .21** -.07 .11 .06 -.18* -.18 .25** -.53**

DISCUSSIONHierarchical Regression Analysis

Outcome variable: Negative Self-Image Stigma


IV β t p Tol VIF

Sex guilt -.45 -7.37 <.001 .90 1.1

Self-esteem .02 .40 - .90 1.1

Loneliness -.44 -11.26 <.001 .91 1.1

Stress .10 1.93 <.05 .91 1.1

Adj. r² = .23, (F (5, 498) = 31.1, p<.001

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

•Our findings suggest that stress, loneliness and sex guilt are important factors which should be evaluated in college students, especially to reduce risky sexual behaviors.

•Clinicians should incorporate cognitive behavioral therapy to reduce stress and loneliness, and assess positive ways of coping with sex guilt.


LIMITATIONS

•Some responses may be influenced by self report bias.

•Limited generalizability due to sample’s demographics (ethnicity, locations, etc.).

•Due to cross sectional correlational design, causation cannot be inferred.


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank the Center for Psychosocial Health Research’s

members and faculty and the students of the University of North Texas.


QUESTIONS?


REFERENCESMcNair, L., Carter, J. & Williams., M. (2008). Self-esteem,

gender and alcohol use: Relationships with HIV risk perception and behaviors in college students.

Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy (Vol. 24).

Mosher, D. L., & Cross, H. J. (1971). Sex guilt and premarital sexual experiences of college students. Journal Of Consulting And Clinical Psychology, 36(1), 27-32. doi:10.1037/h0030454

Torres, H. L., & Gore-Felton, C. (2007). Compulsivity, substance use, and loneliness: The loneliness and sexual risk model (LSRM). Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, 14(1), 63-75.


Stress, Self-Esteem, Loneliness, Sex Guilt and Sexual Risk in College Students

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