Where does risk lie in sexual practices? A study of young people’s social representations

Abstract

In this study we investigate the social representations of risky sexual practices. Specifically, we analyse the circumstances in which young Spanish people consider a sexual practice as risky, and how such ‘representations’ of risk have implications for decisions about using condoms. We use the Grid Elaboration Method to gather the naturalistic thoughts and feelings of 175 young people regarding risky sexual practices and performed a lexical analysis of the content of the responses using Iramuteq software. Our analyses suggested two main textual universes regarding risky sexual practices. The first of these, at a theoretical-informative level, is clearly linked to the discourse of experts, where condom use is a key factor and risk is distanced from the self. The second, at a practical-applied level, represents risky sexual practices in a context that is linked to the unknown and a lack of control due to the use of substances or the spontaneity of the sexual encounter. We conclude that understandings of risk emerge from various sources of information, values, or social conventions that articulate everyday understandings and are likely to guide sexual practices, some of which are far removed from expert risk knowledge. We therefore understand representations of risk in sexual relations as situated within a social context. We conclude by discussing the substantive, theoretical, and practical consequences of this social construction of risk.