Educación sexual de la población joven universitaria: Algunos determinantes y desafíos

Abstract

In general terms, higher education institutions not only face the challenge of teaching some discipline to their students, but also of strengthening their life skills. Since university students are majorly young, the desire to provide them with comprehensive training is particularly relevant, since it is at this stage of life when they model their behavior for adulthood. In this training challenge, sex education plays a decisive role. This research paper aims to show that factors such as information gaps, unsafe sexual practices, myths, prejudices and stereotypes persist in the university student population and do not allow them to live sexuality safely and pleasurable. Moreover, these factors show Costa Rica’s need for higher education institutions to strengthen their actions in sex education. A brief tour is made from various angles through the sexual experiences of the university student population, namely: their perceptions about the training requirements they face, their main concerns, their unsafe sexual practices, their inability to negotiate sexual and reproductive health care, their knowledge and preventive practices in terms of sexual and reproductive health, the existence of forms of violence within university life, among others. The findings set out are part of a larger research, based on contributions from the theory of gender and social constructionism. Such data derives from the application of a questionnaire to a sample stratified by unequal conglomerates composed of 766 regular students of undergraduate courses, enrolled in the first cycle of 2011, at Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica. The margin of error is 1.5% and the confidence level, 95%. The data was tabulated using the software CSPRO and analyzed with software R. After obtaining the results of the instrument’s application, a focus group was created with the participation of professionals who teach sexuality courses in this university, and two other groups with students, aimed at analyzing the findings and propose actions for their care, at a university level.