Sexual & Relationship Health News Post

October 20, 2025, Durham, NC – Providing sexual and relationship health programming is a key way that colleges can help prevent sexual assault, sexually transmitted infections, and unplanned pregnancy amongst their students. Many young people do not receive high-quality, or any, sex education during high school, so receiving sexual and relationship health programming in college could be instrumental in helping them make informed decisions about their sexual health. Even though community college students make up nearly half of the undergraduate college student population, very little research has focused on sexual and relationship health programming for this group. Despite the value of [...]

April 10, 2025, Durham, NC – Providing sex education to adolescents can promote their wellbeing and prevent negative sexual health outcomes. However, the types of sex education that adolescents receive in school, and the sexual health topics they receive education on, vary greatly. For example, some students receive abstinence-only sex education, which emphasizes refraining from sexual activity or waiting until marriage to have sex – and often leaves out important information about topics like condoms/contraception and STI testing. Conversely, some students receive more comprehensive sex education that covers more sexual health topics, such as gender and sexual identity, sexual rights, pleasure, [...]

February 13, 2025, Durham, NC – Condoms are the only prevention method that are effective at both preventing the transmission of STIs and preventing unintended pregnancy. In addition, condoms tend to be more cost-effective and accessible for adolescents than other forms of contraception. Despite the benefits and accessibility of condoms, only 52% of sexually active adolescents in the U.S. report using a condom the last time they had sex. To effectively promote condom use among adolescents, it is important to understand what factors may make adolescents more likely to use condoms. A recent meta-analysis of the adolescent sexual health literature sought [...]

December 16, 2024, Durham, NC – The Journal of American College Health recently published an article featuring findings from iRT’s research related to sexual and relationship health resources for young adults. The article, entitled “Examining resources to promote sexual health and address sexual violence at community colleges across the United States: a qualitative study,” was authored by iRT Research Scientists Drs. Christina Dodson, Reina Evans-Paulson, and Tracy Scull. Over the past few years, iRT has been conducting the Community College Health Study to better understand how to promote students’ sexual and relationship health and prevent sexual assault. As part of the [...]

November 25, 2024, Durham, NC – Though community college students make up nearly half of all U.S. undergraduate students, they are often overlooked by sexual and relationship health research. In addition, community college students are less likely to receive sexual health resources, are more likely to experience STIs and unplanned pregnancy, and are more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviors than four-year college students. To address these gaps in research and better understand how to promote the sexual health of community college students, iRT has been conducting the Community College Health Study for over two years with funding provided by [...]