College Students and HIV

Many vaccines to prevent and protect individuals from sexually transmitted diseases and infections are being created and over time will become available to college students. According to research at the University of Missouri, students who feel untouchable or invincible to physical harm are unlikely to get the vaccinations. Students who feel invulnerable to psychological harm though are more likely to receive the vaccinations.

Russell Ravert, an Assistant Professor at MU College in the department of Human Environmental Sciences researched and studied two factors associated with invulnerability; danger and psychological. The students who viewed themselves as physically strong were more likely to decline the vaccine. One possible reason for this is that those with feelings of immunity can be associated with a decreased sense of danger, which can reduce defensive behaviors. For the students who felt psychologically invulnerably and did not care about the opinions of others were more prone to accept the vaccine.

Ravert expressed the importance of determining the factors that are associated with the vaccine and whether or not students will accept it. The study showed the students responses to accepting the vaccine. Some of the influences were concern of contracting a STD, the number of sexual partners the student has had, and the vaccine’s cost.

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