Internet use and its effect on sexual behavior in traditional college -age students

As the internet has revolutionized communications and business practices worldwide, it has been integrated into everything that humans as a population engage in. It provides instantaneous access. This ubiquitous presence may appear innocent at the surface; however there may be some sinister characteristics within this medium that require further study.;One of the issues that exists may be the effects of the internet on behavior, specifically in the area of sexual activity in adolescents and traditional college age students. At least one third of internet visits are intended to surf sexually oriented web sites, chat rooms, and news groups.;Our purpose was to explore how technology, specifically internet use, gender and ethnicity may affect decision making, and influence sexual decision making in traditional college students. Using a 'paper-survey' designed by using Goodson et. Al (2000) survey tool 'Survey Instrument to Assess College Students' Behavior and Attitudes' to document demographic information as well as college student's perceptions and behaviors while using the internet (specifically for sexually related information) was modified into an actual internet survey document. Using mass emails, participants in this study were solicited from two university campuses in Florida. Due to their divergent populations, a small private Historically Black College/University (HBCU) as well as a large Florida public university (PFU) were chosen. Overall, 1202 students participated in the study.;Results of this study demonstrate differences in gender, age, race and university of record. These differences appear in developing relationships, online sexual behaviors, email use, and offline sexual behaviors. The results indicate that students who are 23 and older are more likely to value the importance of the internet, and also value the opportunity to engage in developing online partners for different relationships that include online sexual activity when compared to their younger counterparts.;Gender differences are also identified as an inverse relationship when combined with age. Females are less likely to use the internet as they age, and the opposite is true for males within this sample population. This information may provide insight into program changes that would target individuals based upon gender.;The study also demonstrated racial differences in internet use. It is important to note that this area needs to be replicated specifically because socioeconomic factors were not taken into account, and therefore may have a significant impact upon the validity of the results. Therefore any future reports of racial differences using results of this study should be used with that cautionary note.;The evidence of data obtained by this preliminary study of internet use and sexual behaviors of traditional college age students demonstrates the immediate need for future studies that target internet use and sexual behaviors by race, gender, and age. These studies should specifically look at the aspect of heightened sexual behavior as a result of frequency of internet use through the emerging adult years.