Deception in disclosing one's sexual history: Safe‐sex avoidance or ignorance?

“Let's (Not) Talk About That”: Bridging the Past Sexual Experiences Taboo to Build Healthy Romantic Relationships

“…In the ancillary qualitative analysis, women more readily admitted lying whereas men indicated concern about being lied to. While research has shown that many individuals will engage in deception regarding past sexual experiences (Cochran & Mays, 1990;Knox, Schacht, Holt & Turner, 1993;Lucchetti, 1999;Marelich, Lundquist, Painter, & Mechanic, 2008;Stebleton & Rothenberger, 1993), our finding is contrary to Seal's (1997) discovery that more men than women report that they would lie in order to appear less sexually experienced.…”

“…6 of initial avoidance of the topic (Afifi & Guerrero, 2000;Golish, 2000;Knobloch & Carpenter-Theune, 2004;Roloff & Ifert, 2000;Roloff & Johnson, 2001). In fact, Lucchetti (1999) admits that, "being open and honest about one's sexual history may harm a developing relationship" (p. 300).…”

“…Various health communication scholars have noted that the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, including the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), is as much a communication problem as a medical problem (Catania, Kegeles, & Coates, 1990;Cline & McKenzie, 1994;Freimuth, Hammond, Edgar, & Monahan, 1990). In order to achieve safer sex, relational partners need to assess infection risk through discussion of each other's past sexual experiences (Cobb, 1997;Lucchetti, 1999;Nolte, Sohn, & Koons, 1993). Disclosure of this nature in a .…”

“…More specifically with regard to sexual pasts, Desiderato and Crawford (1995) noted that almost half of relational partners fail to disclose information regarding past sexual partners to their current partners, particularly if they had multiple past sexual partners. In addition, Lucchetti (1999) discovered that one-third of her sample avoided disclosing their sexual experiences prior to becoming sexually involved with a partner.…”

“…The source of such resistance may be addressed and alleviated in communicative attempts to elicit discussion. Indeed, Lucchetti (1999) notes that, even for those willing to do so, there are few good models for talking about past sexual experience with a potential lover and the identification of barriers may enhance facilitation of successful disclosure. Adelman (1991Adelman ( , 1992 stated that perception of the implicit face threats involved in acquiring information about a partner's previous sexual experiences would also be vital.…”