Open Collections

O'Kane, Kiarah Mary Kaitlyn

University of British Columbia

Despite the importance of sexual well-being for overall health, many people receive limited information about sexuality. If individuals cannot access information about sexuality, they may endorse sexual myths, which could be linked to poorer sexual and relational outcomes. Given disparities in access to sexual information, some groups may be more likely to endorse sexual myths, and in turn be at risk for poor sexual well-being. Social media knowledge translation may be one promising way of improving the sexual knowledge of people with diverse identities. Across two studies, we aimed to investigate predictors of sexuality myth endorsement and assess social media knowledge translation as a tool for combatting it. In Study 1, 4,436 adults completed an online survey reporting on their demographics, sexuality myth endorsement, and sexual and relational outcomes. We found that being assigned male at birth, identifying as cisgender, identifying as heterosexual, being younger, holding more conservative political views, being more religious, living in an urban locality during childhood, and not receiving sex education in school all predicted greater sexuality myth endorsement. Greater sexuality myth endorsement predicted lower sexual satisfaction, higher sexual distress, lower sexual function (among people with vulvas), and lower relationship satisfaction. In general, the strength of these associations did not differ as a function of being part of groups more likely to endorse sexual myths. In Study 2, 2,356 adults completed an online survey reporting on their demographics, sexuality myth endorsement before and after exposure to the content of an Instagram-based knowledge translation initiative busting myths about sex (MisconSEXions), and the acceptability, appropriateness, adoption, and penetration of MisconSEXions content. We found that across assigned sex, gender modality, and sexual orientation groups, participants’ sexuality myth endorsement was significantly lower following exposure to MisconSEXions content. Additionally, across groups, MisconSEXions content was generally perceived to be acceptable and appropriate, while penetration scores were mixed, and adoption scores were lower. Overall, the present studies identify groups more likely to endorse sexual myths, demonstrate links between sexuality myth endorsement and poorer sexual and relational outcomes, and highlight that sexuality social media knowledge translation is a tool that can bolster sexual knowledge.

Text

2024-08-06

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/88884

Psychology

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/