Students participating in a sexual health curriculum in a college freshman seminar report less frequent high-risk sexual behaviors than students not participating in the seminar.
Key Findings
Results
At post-intervention, mean knowledge, attitude, and behavior scores were significantly higher for freshmen enrolled in the seminar than for those not enrolled.
786 freshman students were surveyed at baseline and at 3 months post-intervention
Students were enrolled in 37 randomly selected English classes
Survey outcome measurements included knowledge regarding STDs, attitudes about sexual behavior, and behaviors including barrier contraceptive use, abstinence, and number of sexual partners
Improvements were observed across all three domains: knowledge, attitude, and behavior
Results
Abstinence among males in the seminar increased following the intervention.
This finding was specific to male participants enrolled in the freshman seminar
The study design compared seminar participants to non-participants at 3-month follow-up
No corresponding statistically notable increase in abstinence was reported for females in the seminar
Results
White males in the seminar were more likely to be abstinent or to use a condom than nonwhite males.
Racial differences in intervention outcomes were observed specifically among male participants
This finding suggests differential effectiveness of the curriculum across racial subgroups
The study did not report specific odds ratios or confidence intervals in the abstract
Results
Females not participating in the intervention reported increased frequency of never using condoms and decreased frequency of condom use at last intercourse.
This finding pertained specifically to female students in the control group (not enrolled in the seminar)
Both 'never using condoms' frequency increased and condom use at last intercourse decreased among non-participating females
This contrasts with the seminar group, suggesting the control group's sexual risk behavior worsened over the same time period
The comparison highlights a potential protective effect of the seminar for female participants
Methods
A sexual health curriculum was incorporated into a university freshman seminar and evaluated using a quasi-experimental pre-post survey design.
37 English classes were randomly selected for the study
786 freshmen were surveyed at baseline and again at 3 months
The intervention group consisted of students simultaneously enrolled in the freshman seminar
The control group consisted of students not enrolled in the seminar
Outcome measures covered knowledge about STDs, sexual attitudes, and specific behaviors including condom use, abstinence, and number of partners
What This Means
This research examined whether including a sexual health course in a required college freshman seminar could change students' knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to sexual health. Nearly 800 first-year college students were surveyed at the start of the study and again three months later. Students who were enrolled in the seminar were compared to those who were not, looking at things like how much they knew about sexually transmitted diseases, their attitudes toward sexual behavior, and whether they used condoms or practiced abstinence.
The study found that students who participated in the seminar scored higher on knowledge, attitudes, and safer behavior after the program ended. Among male students in the seminar, abstinence increased, and white males in the seminar were more likely than nonwhite males to be abstinent or use condoms. Notably, female students who did NOT participate in the seminar showed a troubling trend — they were more likely to report never using condoms and less likely to have used a condom the last time they had sex, suggesting their risk behaviors increased over the same period.
This research suggests that embedding sexual health education into a standard college freshman course may be a practical way to reach students during a high-risk transition period. The findings also point to differences in how the program affected students by gender and race, which could inform how future programs are designed or tailored to better serve all student groups.
Turner J, Garrison C, Korpita E, Waller J, Addy C, Hill W, et al.. (2025). Promoting Responsible Sexual Behavior Through a College Freshman Seminar.. AIDS education and prevention : official publication of the International Society for AIDS Education. https://doi.org/10.1521/aeap.1994.6.3.266