Sexual health information disparities between heterosexual a

Sexual health information disparities between heterosexual and LGBTQ+ young adults: Implications for sexual health

Maxime Charest, Peggy J. Kleinplatz, and Jessie I. Lund

What did the authors find?

Sexual orientation/gender identity - 13.9% of the variance in confidence in sexual health practices.

Heterosexual participants (M = 72.6, SD = 12.9) were significantly more conifdent in practicing safer sex and dealing with sexual assault.

• LTBTQ+ participants - more information from educational websites/news outlets than heterosexual participants.
• Heterosexual - more confident than LGBTQ+ participants sexual health practices.
• Heterosexual participants - more confident in practicing safer sex and dealing with sexual assault.
• LGBTQ+ participants - more confident in accepting sexual diversity and equality.

Descriptives

Significant differences between heterosexual and LGBTQ+ participants with respect to confidence in sexual health practices overall.

Research Hypotheses

The group was primarily heterosexual (55.7%).

The population was 62.2% women.

The majority (79.3%) of the participants were attending/had attended post-secondary institutions

Of those who participated, 85.5% of respondents were white.

1) There is a difference between heterosexual and LGBTQ emerging adults and post-secondary and non-post-secondary young adults in their sources of sexual health information.

2) There is a difference in sexual self efficacy between heterosexual and LGBTQ emerging adults.

3) Traditional sources of sexual health information would predict self-efficacy for heterosexual young adults while the opposite is true for LGBTQ young adults.

• Application with Clients
• Misrepresentations of Data (exclusion of participants and majority heterosexual)

Variables

Independent

• Sexuality: Heterosexual and LGBTQ+
• Level of Education: Postsecondary and non-postsecondary

Dependent

• Sources of Sexual Health Information
• Sexual self-efficacy

Statistical Techniques Used

Paired T-Test to compare sexual orientation and sources of sexual health information

DV: Mean Sexual Health Confidence Scores

IV: Source of Sexual Health Information

A second multivariate ANOVA analysis was done to compare which subcategories of sexual health confidence scores were affected by education level and sexual orientation.

ANOVA - multivariate analysis of variance testing the difference between level of education, sexual orientation, source of sexual health information (IVs), and the sample's mean sexual health confidence scores (DV).

• Social/Economic Justice
• Further research suggestions

Reference

Charest, M., Kleinplatz, P. J., & Lund, J. I. (2016). Sexual health information disparities between heterosexual and LGBTQ+ young adults: Implications for sexual health. Canadian Journal Of Human Sexuality, 25(2), 74-85.