Why Do Some People Have Unprotected Sexual Intercourse? Essay Example

Despite all the facts, statistics and literature establishing that unsafe sexual practices have seen Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and diseases such as HIV/AIDS become rampant, there still are those people who choose to engage in unsafe sex. Until recently, the research literature on the dangers and the reasons behind the dominance of unprotected sex has been dominated by studies identifying biological, psychological and social factors. Many at times, most people who still engage in unsafe sex genuinely believe that bad things cannot happen to them. Similarly, others practice unsafe sex due to a batch of reasons associated with ignorance, drug abuse and lack of education, among many others. Although a majority of existing literature identifies wilful ignorance and lack of self-respect as the primary reasons why most people practice unsafe sex, the core intent of this essay is to discuss the dominance of unsafe sex from a biopsychosocial perspective.

To begin with, the biopsychosocial approach seeks to study individuals in the context of the combined influence of biological, psychological as well as their surrounding social environment on both their mental and physical wellness in their ability to function of choose some specific ways of life. In this regard, the biological factors are thought to influence the risk of engaging in unprotected sex through four aspects such as; genetic predispositions, the development of the brain or the central nervous system, direct hormonal influences and the influence of asynchronous pubertal timing. Besides, with regard to the psychological factors attributing to this behavior, psychologically based studies regarding the engagement in unprotected sex examine the roles of cognition, depression, risk-taking behavior and personality traits, among others. Similarly, societal influences such as social and mass media, community norms and peer groups seem to foster and encourage the existence of this behavior.

From a biological point of view, engaging in unprotected sex has been highly associated with the genetic predispositions. In this regard, long before the mapping of the human genome, the nature of health risk behaviors particularly led various scholars to speculate about the role of the genetic disposition in risk-taking behaviors such as participating in unprotected sex. According to existing literature on family studies, there is evidence that some of the most common risk-taking behaviors tend to cluster within families. Specific to sexual behavior among teenagers, (Tucker, Ryan, Golinelli, Ewing, Wenzel, Kennedy, Zhou (2011) substantiate that genes influence the testosterone levels in a human body. Testosterone levels, on the other hand, increase sexual motivation which results in the higher likelihood of individuals, especially those in early adolescence, of initiating sexual intercourse. Although no substantial studies indicate a direct relationship between unprotected sex and the genetic predisposition, various scholars contend that with lack of sufficient sexual education, individuals experiencing these high testosterone levels often fall prey to the risks of engaging in unprotected sex. This being said, direct hormonal influences are said to be common biological factors that lead to the increase in the number of people having unprotected sex.

In a similar regard, the development of the brain, or rather the functioning of an individuals central nervous system influences their related sexual behaviors. This is most common among adolescents. Although the most rapid mental and cognitive changes occur during childhood, it is during the adolescence stage that brain continues to form new neural connections and also casting off the unused connections and neurons. This being said, the development of the brain causes adolescents to act impulsively rather than thoughtfully. Longua and Tindale (2016) point out that the development of the prefrontal cortex is considered slower than the growth of the emotional parts of the brain. This, in turn, leads to hormonal surge which primarily influences the emotional responses that lead to impulsive behavior. Studies, therefore, hypothesize that adolescents may engage in some risky behaviors such as engaging in unprotected sex because they have not fully acquired the full mental ability to curb impulsive behavior or to make entirely rational judgments (Kurpisz, Mak, Lew-Starowicz, Nowosielski, Bienkowski, Kowalczyk, Samochowiec, 2016).

Also, psychological traits such as the roles of cognition, depression, risk-taking behavior and personality traits are some of the most common reasons why there are people who still practice unprotected sex. More fundamentally, about the personality traits factor, studies substantiate that individual sexual desires and practices are merged with their personality. In this regard, it is, therefore, impossible to perceive sexual desires as an independent phenomenon. According to Baskin, Sommers & Baskin-Sommers (2012), many people across different age groups are involved in sexual risk practices such as practicing unsafe sex based on their own free will. For instance, there is evidence that individuals, especially young adults practice unsafe sex for sensation seeking, impulsivity and also agreeableness on every other sexual risk-taking behaviors. Besides, other studies show that personality traits also influence specific behaviors for neuroticism and conscientiousness (DeLamater & Koepsel, 2014). This being said, it is with no doubt that a majority of the populations engaging in unprotected sex do willingly base on their personality traits, despite having the knowledge of the potential risks.

Growing evidence points out that emotional distress and cases of depression may have the potential to increase the chances of individuals engaging in unprotected sex. For instance, a study conducted in the Pennsylvania found out that young men and women who suffer from depression were half likely to use condoms when compared to those without depression (Holden, Shain, Miller, Piper, Perdue,Thurman & Korte, 2008).Similarly, there seems to be a vast range of agreement between studies done regarding the existing relationship between depression and the risks of engaging in unprotected sexual intercourse. In this regard, depression is identified as a factor that is primarily associated with the negative attitudes towards the use of condoms among a majority of both men and women in the United States (Peixoto, Barros & Guimaraes, 2014). In a similar regard, patients who suffer from depression, as well as other psychological disorders, are usually at the risk of having a problem with alcoholism and substance abuse. Therefore, based on this premise, scholars draw the conclusion that alcoholism and substance abuse, which are primarily attributed to depression, put a majority of people at the risk of practicing unsafe sex and hence increased cases of STIs such as HIV/AIDS among these populations (Zhan, Shaboltas, Skochilov, Kozlov, Krasnoselskikh, & Abdala, 2012).

Similarly, when studied from a sociological perspective, the reason why some people still practice unprotected sexual behaviors is highly attributed to the social environment. For instance, a persons family, as well as their upbringing, has a lot to do with their choices relating to sexual behaviors. Foster, Higgins, Biggs, McCain, Holtby and Brindis (2012) identify family influences and peer contexts as the primary factors that consistently predict a lot of involvement in unprotected sex. In this regard, there is evidence that families influence the risk behavior such as practicing unsafe sex through a different mechanism. According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), mechanisms such as the internalization of conventional norms and attitudes, education from parents about sexuality and also limitations on affiliations with risk-taking peers. More fundamentally, group peers constitute a potent proximal influence that encourages and also provides reinforcement for the involvement of the risk behavior of engaging in unprotected sex. Therefore, based on this context, a majority of individuals are in most cases compelled to engage in unsafe sexual intercourse owing to the pressure and influences they receive from their peers.

Social and mass media, on the other hand, are dominant factors that cause many people to practice unprotected sexual intercourse. Concerning the relationship between social media and the prevalence of unprotected sexual intercourse, a majority of scholars contend that the development of online technologies such as social media has been on the rise. This being said, the growing use of these technologies may play a role in facilitating sexual risk behaviors especially among the risk populations such as men who have sex with men (MSM). Research from internet studies substantiate that compared to people who do not spend a majority of their time on the internet, internet sex seekers tend to engage in unprotected sexual intercourse, have higher numbers of sex partners, and also are most likely to be diagnosed with STIs. Besides, social networking users have a potentially increased risk of involving in unprotected sexual intercourse based on the fact that social networking technologies allow the users to engage in a real-time interaction that, in most cases, can be used to initiate rapid sexual intercourse.

In the same vein, there is a growing concern about young people being exposed to unprotected sex content through television and other electronic media. This, in essence, has been said to have a significant impact on their sexual beliefs, behaviors and also attitudes. Modern day literature documents the growing prevalence of sexual portrayals and talks on televised media. For teenagers and adolescents, televised media has increasingly led to the prevalence of unprotected sexual intercourse since, during these two stages, individuals are characterized by intense information seeking especially regarding adult roles. Therefore, given the lack of information about sexuality from reliable sources, they are in most cases likely to fall victim to practicing unprotected sex (Nasrollahi Darandegan, & Rafatmah, 2011).

In conclusion, different biopsychosocial factors are considered to be the primary reasons why there are a large number of people engaging in unprotected sex. Although unprotected sex is practiced by individuals across all age groups, the behavior seems to be predominant among teenagers and adolescent persons who are usually more vulnerable to influences of the different biopsychosocial factors. Besides, there is evidence that rates of unprotected sex are higher among females than the men. These results can highly be attributed to the hormonal impulses among a majority of the females as compared to the men. The societal and cultural influences also have great impacts on an individuals sexual behavior and practices. Thus, with all these factors coming together, studies substantiate that many people engage in unprotected sexual intercourse owing to biopsychosocial factors which primarily impact their physical wellness and also their ability to function or choose some specific ways of life.

References

Baskin, D., Sommers, I., & Baskin-Sommers, A. (2012). Methamphetamine Use, Personality Traits, and High-Risk Behaviors. Crime, HIV and Health: Intersections of Criminal Justice and Public Health Concerns, 95-111. doi:10.1007/978-90-481-8921-2_5

DeLamater, J., & Koepsel, E. (2014). Relationships and sexual expression in later life: a biopsychosocial perspective. Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 30(1), 37-59. doi:10.1080/14681994.2014.939506

Foster, D. G., Higgins, J. A., Biggs, M. A.,...