Attitudes, beliefs, and norms about sex and sexuality among young Indian male adults: A qualitative study

Tirajeh Zohourian; Nader Hakim; Patricia Moise Dorcius; Reshma Shaheen; Indira Rama Rao; Rona Carter; Karl Krupp; Purnima Madhivanan

doi:10.4103/ijstd.IJSTD_133_15

Attitudes, beliefs, and norms about sex and sexuality among young Indian male adults: A qualitative study

Indian J Sex Transm Dis AIDS. 2020 Jan-Jun;41(1):35-38. doi: 10.4103/ijstd.IJSTD_133_15. Epub 2020 Jun 18.

Authors

Tirajeh Zohourian¹, Nader Hakim², Patricia Moise Dorcius¹, Reshma Shaheen³, Indira Rama Rao^{3

4}, Rona Carter², Karl Krupp^{3

5}, Purnima Madhivanan^{3

5

6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA.
² Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, India.
³ Public Health Research Institute of India, Mysore, Karnataka, India.
⁴ Department of Sociology, University of Mysore, Mysore, Karnataka, India.
⁵ Department of Health Promotion Sciences, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
⁶ Division of Infectious Diseases, College of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
⁷ Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA.

Abstract

Objective: Little is known about the risky sexual behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and sources of information regarding sexual health among young adult Indian males. Currently, students in Indian secondary schools do not receive a structured comprehensive sexual health education. This qualitative study explored the sources of information, knowledge, and attitudes around sexual behaviors among young men in Mysore, India.

Materials and methods: Between May and June 2011, 23 semi-structured qualitative in-depth interviews with males aged 18-25 years were conducted to explore their views on sexual norms, attitudes, and their sources of information to gain knowledge about sexual health. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analyses were conducted.

Results: Participants shared a desire for quality sex education in schools but described their current sexual health curriculum as inadequate. Since social taboos dictated the space in which students gained awareness on sexual topics, the participants resorted to the outside information from both reliable and unreliable sources.

Conclusions: These findings have important implications for laying the groundwork for culturally specific sexual health education interventions to meet the needs of a growing youth population in India.

Keywords: Attitudes; India; males; sexual health.