Harmful alcohol use and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are significant public health concerns for college students. Because alcohol use and condomless sex often co-occur in this population, alcohol-associated condomless sex has been identified as a target for behavioral interventions. Existing theoretical frameworks have not garnered…

Study One Background: This study sought to validate a new sexual assertiveness scale with college students in the United States. Sexual assertiveness is associated with safer sex and sexual satisfaction. Validating the new scale among students in the US is important, as sexual behaviors vary by country. Study design: College students at a Midwest…

There is a long history of individuals with extensive support needs (ESN) being sterilized without their knowledge and consent. Students with ESN are defined as individuals who need continuous and widespread supports necessary for academic, communication, and/or daily living skills. These individuals typically have more than one diagnosis…

Chapter 1 studies how the interaction of student information with constraints dictated by market design determines higher education choices and outcomes. I study strategic application incentives in imperfect implementations of centralized assignment mechanisms in higher education. I ask whether, in markets with both a central match for public…

According to the definition developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2011, sexual health is an innate part of a person's overall health and includes multiple dimensions of a person: physical, emotional, mental, social, and spiritual. As sexual health is an intrinsic part of a person's health, understanding and improving it is…

Personalized normative feedback (PNF) interventions provide corrective normative feedback and have been found to successfully elicit behavior change (e.g., related to alcohol consumption, gambling). There are no known PNF interventions that explicitly target risky sexual behavior (RSB). PNF interventions have demonstrated significant reductions on…

In the first chapter titled "Cognitive Ability, Education, and Fertility Risk", I explore the role of cognitive ability in fertility timing. Women in the bottom quartile of the cognitive ability distribution are nine times more likely to have their first child as a teenager. First, I document the differences in age at childbirth by…

Approximately 60-80% of college students report engaging in a hookup at some point during their college career. College students find hookup partners through traditional meeting contexts, but dating apps and social media have become a new resource to identify potential sexual partners. Because males are the ones who physically wear condoms, safer…

College students' predicted condom use has been shown to vary by partner social distance, with closer social distance related to less frequent condom use. Condom use has also been associated with condom availability (i.e., delay), with people less likely to use a condom as delay increases. How people value condoms and other commodities, such as…

Sexual assault has been an issue facing institutions of higher education for many years (Office of Civil Rights, 2011). Alcohol plays a role in both who have been victims of sexual assault and who have perpetrated the crime of sexual assault (Crawford, Wright, & Birchmeier, 2008). The purpose of this study was to look at sexual misconduct at…

Since the 1800s, religious organizations have been a presence on public universities. However, there is limited research on the influence these organizations may have on student health communication and behaviors. Prior research on campus ministries has focused primarily on the culture of individual organizations. In this study, researchers…

Parent-child sexual health communication (PCSHC) can have a positive impact on adolescents' sexual health choices, outcomes, and capabilities for communicating with others about sexual health. Many parents are hesitant and feel unprepared for and uncomfortable with communicating about sexual health with their children. Other parental factors as…

This dissertation evaluates the effectiveness of a customized educational health intervention on sexual health and female cancer prevention among young women in Pakistan and evaluates the applicability of the integrated model of behavior prevention (IM) when predicting three health behaviors among this population. The study used randomized…

This study investigated relationships between high school counselors' ethical decision-making, gender, attitudes towards gender, and sexual attitudes. Of the 161 respondents, only 157 participants' data sets were included in the data set. Participants completed the Ethical Decision-Making Questionnaire, The Brief Sexual Attitudes Scale (Hendrick,…