An Attitude Survey
One study of the attitudes which college students expressed before marriage centered on premarital sex. Whereas a number of students thought that it was all right for them to live in coed college dorms, or share summer beach houses and winter ski resorts in mixed group· ings, many of these same students said that they would not want their sons or daughters doing the same thing. In another study, a follow-up of several hundred young married former students, a majority of them expressed conservative views on sex relationships before marriage that did not involve real love affairs. Sex as .an expression of love wa approved; sex tor its own sake \vas not. Controversial views were expressed about using the pill before marriage. Incidentally, in anoth· er survey among noncollege population, including both young and older people, some ignorance about the pill was found. Few respon· dents knew that the pill functioned on a brain center to inhibit femal sex gland functions. More important, a number of teen-agers believed that birth control methods in general, including the pill, prevented venereal disease.
A Knowledge Survey
For a time following World War II, syphilis was in sharp decline. However, with the advent of oral contraception, and its attendant freer attitudes about sex experiences and decreased need for use of condoms, the incidence of syphilis has risen sharply. This disease i caused by a microsc,opic organism (the spirochete) which is transmitted by an infected individual, usually during sexual relations. The spirochetes multiply rapidly, and within two or three weeks a sore develops at the site of the infection. This sore disappears within about one month, even though untreated.
Some few weeks later a copper-colored rash resembling small· 'pox emerges, sometimes covering the whole body. The microorganisms may attack any of the organs of the body. If not treated properly, the infection can eventually lead to the disease of paresis, which includes rapid :nental and personality deterioration. The diseased person may be unable to spell or count; his sense of time may become distorted; he may become confused about persons or places. Depression may' be so severe that it leads to suicide.
How much do teen-agers know about this problem? Surveys show that many have never heard of the symptoms. Of those who have, as we have said, many erroneously believe that the pill prevents not only pregnancy but V.D. as well. Health communications of various' kinds have not been able to clarify the facts. Even an antisyphilis publicity campaign, with such slogans as "Birth control DOES NOT control V.D.," has had little success.
