Perceptions of premarital sex risk among undergraduate students in South Africa: A systematic review

• Main Author: Abesai, Malebogo
• Other Authors: Mwaba, Kelvin
• Language: en
• Published: University of the Western Cape 2018
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11394/6159

Magister Artium - MA (Psychology) === The first year of college is usually regarded as a significant transitional period for young adults, mainly with regard to sex and dating. Premarital sex is being reported by an increasing number of young adults, as well as college undergraduates, increasing by 11.3% in 2000 as compared to 9.8% in 1990. The absence of comprehensive sex education for youth raises the dangers that they will have unsafe sex and the chances that they will engage in premarital sex without being efficiently informed of the likely consequences. The aim of the study is to provide evidence of filtered base information assessed for methodological rigor and coherence on perceptions of premarital sex risk among undergraduate students in South Africa. A three-step assessment strategy was utilized to identify any potential sources of bias. The following databases were searched; Cochrane, EBSCOR host (Eric, Academic Search Complete, Psych Info, Education Search Complete, Psychological and Behavioral Sciences), SAGE, JSTOR, and Science Direct. Articles passed through rigorous selections and evaluation process for inclusion in the final review. The findings shows that most students' do have positive attitudes towards premarital sex, with males having more liberal attitudes than females (mean score of 2.68 vs. 2.32, p < 0.001). Personal HIV risk perceptions were only stated by 27.76% of the sexually active respondents which is very little. Moreover, majority of the sexually active respondents (89.49%) described their fellows' sexual behaviours as either risky or very risky.