Factors associated with academic performance among sexually active and inactive international students of national pirogov memorial medical university, Vinnytsya

Размещено на http://www.allbest.ru/

Factors associated with academic performance among sexually active and inactive international students of national pirogov memorial medical university, Vinnytsya

Oksana Kucherenko

Candidate of Medical Sciences, Associate Professor at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology №1 of National Pirogov Memorial Medical University,

Abstract

Sex education is the key to lead a harmonious personal life, maintain and improve reproductive health, acquire a tolerant attitude towards the LGBT community. It is important to know the anatomical and physiological characteristics of human sexuality, the characteristics of its sexual development, sexual relations, sexual disorders, disharmony, their prevention and treatment. We found a statistically significant association between academic performance and sexual activity. academic performance sexual life

The purpose - to examine prevalence and correlates of academic performance and different aspects of sexual life foreign students of the 4th year of National Pirogov Memorial Medical University, Vinnytsya (NPMMU, V).

Keywords: academic performance, sexual life, sexual debut, sexual partner, permanent sexual partner.

Introduction

During the period of study at a higher educational institution, a foreign student continues to form and develop in accordance with his new social position, which he occupies in society, under the influence of a new environment, a new team, new conditions and requirements. The range of relations with the representatives of social groups is significantly expanding: fellow students, teachers, methodologists, employees of a higher educational institution, etc. Those who live in a dormitory, or in the apartment expand their circle of everyday communication even more, which means facing new problems, leading students to deal with a constant emotional and informational load [2, 4, 8, 15].

Factors contributing to the emergence of emotional stress:

monotony; insufficiently formed personality traits such as: readiness to learn, ability to learn independently, to have their own individual characteristics of cognitive activity, the ability to rationally plan their working time for self-training;

? assessment of the work that is exceeding the student's capacity in terms of volume or severity, uncertain requirements, critical circumstances or risk in decision making [1, 3].

The complication of the adaptation process is facilitated by a change in the usual ideas and interests, meaning their narrowing and a certain professionalization. At the same time, the range of interests associated with the chosen profession is expanding while intellectual, aesthetic, ethical and material needs are increasing. All these complexes affect the student as failures, defensive reactions, emotions associated with stress. Stressful situations disrupt the adaptation of a person to the environment. The result of stressful situations is a low academic performance and a high level of seasonal incidence [19, 20].

Comparison of the functional state of the student's body during studying at the university showed that during the adaptation period, the excitability of the nerve cells of the cerebral cortex is less pronounced, the level of working capacity is lower, the body works with great tension and intensity, cases of vegetative vascular dysfunction are often encountered [22, 24].

A separate group of factors consists of students' personal difficulties, namely the problem of insufficient self-determination [6, 21, 25].

According to Freud (1856-1939), sexuality is the main motivating force of human behavior and the main cause of all forms of neurosis - a disease, the most striking manifestation of which is anxiety and impaired mental adaptation while maintaining an adequate perception of reality [26]. He argued that the hormones present in the blood of the fetus also affect the development of the brain and pituitary gland. The most convincing documented difference in brain structure between men and women is the number and location of certain types of nerve synapses in the hypothalamus [28]. In the process of sexual differentiation, androgens stimulate the development of the brain, as well as other male-type organs. In the absence of androgens, the brain develops according to the female type [5. 7]. Hormonal programming in the prenatal period determines the nature of the functioning of hypothalamus and pituitary gland in puberty and after its completion. As the result, girls form a system of cyclic production of sex hormones and menstrual cycles, while boys' level of sex hormones remains relatively constant after having reached a certain level of its production. Fertility in women is also cyclical, while in men it is constant. The action of hormones on the brain in the prenatal period can also affect the behavior of a person in adulthood, including his sexual behavior, aggressiveness, mental activity, although the nature of such effects remains unclear [9, 10].

There was also a study of biological fluids (saliva) among students with different sexual activity - a higher level of immunoglobulin A was found in the saliva of those who had sexual activity 1-2 times a week, compared with those who did not have sex or had sex more than 3 times a week. This indicates a positive effect of a moderate sexual activity on the immune system of the human body [14, 18].

According to a study by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Ukrainian adolescents in 2019, sexual debut in Ukraine begins at the age of 12, and a third of adolescents do not use condoms during their first sexual intercourse. It is important to take this into account when developing curricula at secondary schools and to adopt the experience of European countries on educational activities among youth. Thus, it is too late to start talking about sexual activity and contraceptives to the 8th graders.

Methods. Materials

The entire students, who chose the elective course "Fundamentals of sexology and sexopathology" of 4th year NPMMU, V was invited to take part in the survey. Young people were asked with the help of a questionnaire that included 25 questions on various aspects of their sexual life. The main aspects of sexual education among foreign medical students are established as follows: the age of sexual debut, the activity of sexual life and the reasons for its absence, the presence of a permanent sexual partner, satisfaction with sexual life and the main unresolved issues, academic performance, experience of oral and anal sexual contact, use of contraception.

The participation in the study was completely voluntary and anonymity would be guaranteed.

All of the abovementioned characteristics were evaluated comprehensively. Statistical calculations were carried out using “Statistica 6.1” (Stat Soft Inc., USA) using nonparametric methods [13].

Average age of respondents is M±SD 22.5±2.5y.

A significant percentage of students without a sexual debut was established - 45.45%±11.642%, among which 54.44%±11.644%- young women,

Table 1.

Fig.2. Satisfaction with sexual debut among young women

*80.77%±7.862% among sexually active young women and

Fig. 3. The number of sexual

Fig. 4. ^{The number} qf ^sexual

^sexually ^activ^e y^oung men.women.

partners among sexually active young ^{partners among} 57.7%±9.855% among young women and only 18.3%±7.713% among young men have a permanent sexual partner.

Academic success among students evaluated according to the criteria European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS), «A» (Excellent)- 180-200 points, «B» (Good), «C» ( Satisfactory) - 160-179 points, «D», «E» (Pass) - 122-159 points (Table 3).

Table 3.

Characteristic of academic performance among NPMMU, V students

Value р*- statistically significant difference with a Confidence Level of 95.5%.

Value p** - statistically significant difference with a Confidence Level of 99.7%.

A statistically significant difference was established between academic performance among sexually active and inactive young men p>0.01 (t=7.4) and in sexually active and inactive young women p>0.05 (t=2.04).