부산대학교 도서관

Summary: Surveys of college campuses have found that at least 70% of young adults engage in sexual activities. Although exploration, freedom, and self-discovery in the sexual context are common when entering college, they do not come without the potential for serious physical, emotional and social consequences that may result in regretting those sexual activities. In fact, regretted sexual experiences are beginning to be recognized as significant and fairly common in the lives of college students. Research regarding the sexual regret experienced by adolescents and college students is limited and has only been addressed in a few studies to date. Given the incidence of and consequences from regretted sex, researchers have argued for more in-depth study of this phenomenon. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to examine the relationships among the experience of regretted sex, the reasons for regretted sex, and the factors associated with sexual regret. In the first of a three-part study, a convenience sample of 435 undergraduate students completed a survey about regretted sex, whichresulted in the development of the 11-item Experience of Regretted Sex Scale (ERSS) as a reliable and valid measure of the experience of sexual regret. In study 2, the 36-item Reasons for Regretted Sex Scale (RRSS) was created and its psychometric properties were tested. Five categories of reasons for regretting sex were identified as significant factors: casual/drunken sex, negative sexual experiences, bad sex, relationship issues, and partner issues. The RRSS and each associated factor provided evidence of good psychometric properties. In Study 3, we explored behavioral and demographic variables that may predict a person's engagement in regretful sexual behaviors. Consistent with prior research, the behavioral variable--- number of lifetime sexual partners---was significantly associated with each category of regret on the RRSS. We hope that the utilization of the ERSS and RRSS will lead to more consistent and reliable research in the area of sexual regret in youngadults.