The implications of a functionalist perspective for understanding sexual risk taking are explored. Key motivational dimensions thought to underlie human behavior (viz., approach vs. avoidance, autonomy vs. relatedness) were used to identify 4 broad domains of sexual motivations and to develop a measure of specific motives within each of these domains. Data from both college student and community samples are used to demonstrate the psychometric adequacy of these scales and to show that having sex for different reasons predicts distinctive patterns of sexual risk taking both cross-sectionally and longitudinally: that selection into specific types of sexual relationships partially mediates these effects; and that these needs may be differentially expressed, or even suppressed, depending on relationship context. Results provide strong support for the functionalist perspective on behavior and indicate that an adequate understanding of sexual risk-taking behavior must take into account the various needs and goals that such behavior can serve.
PIP: Despite knowing how HIV is transmitted, many young people still engage in HIV/AIDS risk behavior. The implications of a functionalist perspective for understanding such sexual risk-taking are explored. Key motivational dimensions thought to underlie human behavior were used to identify 4 broad domains of sexual motivation and develop a measure of specific motives within each domain. Data from both college student and community samples are used to demonstrate the psychometric adequacy of these scales and that having sex for different reasons predicts distinctive patterns of sexual risk-taking both cross-sectionally and longitudinally; that selection into specific types of sexual relationships partially mediates those effects; and that those needs may be differentially expressed, or even suppressed, depending upon relationship context. Strong support is provided for the functionalist perspective on behavior and indicates that an adequate understanding of sexual risk-taking must consider the various needs and goals which such behavior can serve.