What Are College Students' Beliefs and Knowledge of Paraphilic Sexual Behavior?

The aim of this descriptive survey was to determine what college students understand and believe regarding unusual sexual behaviors, specifically the seven most common paraphilias described in the DSM-V. This was achieved by use of a 23-item survey instrument constructed, administered and analyzed via online Qualtrics software and completed by 234 college students across three different "Introduction to Psychology" courses at Arizona State University. It was hypothesized that Non-heterosexual college students are more likely to have an understanding of paraphilic behaviors than are heterosexual college students. The results from the survey did not provide substantive evidence to support the hypothesis. However, other significant findings were obtained; it was found that 76.50% of all participants were non-heterosexual, and 23.50% heterosexual. In addition, non-heterosexual participants were less likely to have religious affiliation than heterosexual participants. Lastly, it was found that heterosexual and non-heterosexual participants have different rates of familiarity with each paraphilia as well as differing views in regards to the causes of various paraphilias.