Unprotected Sex Among Low Self-Control Youth in an Islamic Society: an Explanatory Sequential Mixed Methods Inquiry

Abstract

Young adults with low self-control are more likely to engage in unsafe sex and other risky sexual behaviours. The primary purpose of the study was to explain the reasons for engaging in unsafe sex among low self-control young adults, taking into consideration cultural, religious, and legal issues as they pertain to extra-marital sex. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was conducted between March 2017 and April 2018. First, the research team collected and analysed the quantitative data from a sample of 400 young adults, between 18 and 28 years old, in Zanjan, Iran, followed by the collection and analysis of the qualitative data from 11 participants who had low self-control trait and history of condomless sex, and concluded by interpreting and synthesizing all results. The association between condomless sex and low self-control was statistically significant. In the qualitative phase, the emerged themes for condomless sex were (1) low perceived risk, (2) trusting the partner, (3) humiliation posed by friends for condom use, and (4) surrendering to the partner’s insistence on not using condom. Young adults with low self-control tend to easily engage in unsafe sex. Consulting those with low self-control and improving the needed skills could be useful in preventing unsafe sexual activities and other risky behaviours among young adults.