Retention of contraceptive and AIDS information in the classroom

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Abstract
Two well‐cited studies (Fisher, 1980; Schwartz, 1973) have suggested that people with negative emotional orientations toward sexuality (i.e., “erotophobia” or “sex guilt”) have difficulty learning contraceptive information. However, a recent laboratory study (Goldfarb, Gerrard, Gibbons, & Plante, 1988) has raised doubts about this conclusion by demonstrating that erotophobic women can learn contraceptive information if they are exposed to it. The current study was designed to further clarify the relationship between emotional orientation toward sex and ability to learn sexually relevant material. Specifically, it compared pretest and post‐test knowledge of contraception and AIDS in erotophobic and erotophilic students in a university class on human reproduction. While the results indicated that male erotophobics initially knew less, there were no knowledge differences between males and females or erotophobics and erotophilics at the end of the course. Thus, these results support the conclusion that erotophobics are capable of learning sexual material if they are exposed to it. The implications of these results for educational strategies for decreasing unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases are discussed.

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