Examining College Students' Levels of Erotophobia and Erotophilia

Presenter Information

Allison Campbell, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Miranda Bretz, Minnesota State University, MankatoFollow
Keegan McPherson, Minnesota State University, MankatoFollow
Matthew Schumann, Minnesota State University, MankatoFollow

Location

CSU Ballroom

Start Date

9-4-2012 1:00 PM

End Date

9-4-2012 2:30 PM

Student's Major

Psychology

Student's College

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Mentor's Name

Eric Sprankle

Mentor's Department

Psychology

Mentor's College

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Description

This study aimed to examine general sexual attitudes of college students by assessing the participants’ level of erotophilia and erotophobia. The purpose of collecting the data was to assist in data analyses of a primary study on perceptions of sexually explicit instructional therapy videos that will be conducted at a later date. By having data reflecting general sexual attitudes of the campus population, potential floor or ceiling effects found in the future perceptions study will be better understood and taken into consideration when discussing the findings. Undergraduate student participants (N=363) completed the Sexual Opinion Survey through an online data collection system. The results indicated a normal distribution of scores on the erotophilia-erotophobia spectrum, which suggests diversity of sexual attitudes among participants. However, within a normal distribution there was a significant gender difference with female participants reported higher levels of erotophilia than male participants. The results counter previous research on college students’ sexual attitudes, where a higher level of erotophilia among men is consistently reported.