Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 8(23) Special 2014, Pages: 171-175 AENSI Journals Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences ISSN:1991-8178 Journal home page: www.ajbasweb.com Corresponding Author: Wahyu Rahardjo, Faculty of Psychology, Gunadarma University, Indonesia The Roles of Self-Esteem and Motivation of Having an Affair Towards The Number of Multiple Sex Partners and Sexual Intimacy among College Students Who Engage in Risky Sexual Behavior Wahyu Rahardjo Faculty of Psychology, Gunadarma University, Indonesia ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: Received 30 September 2014 Received in revised form 17 November 2014 Accepted 25 November 2014 Available online 6 December 2014 Keywords: Self-esteem, Motivation of having an affair, Multiple sex partners, Sexual intimacy, Risky sexual behavior Background: Risky sexual behavior in college students become an interesting issue related to the spread of HIV/AIDS. Objective: The aim of this study is to identify the significant roles of self-esteem and motivation of having an affair towards multiple sex partners and sexual intimacy among college students who engage in risky sexual behavior. Results: Ninety-one college students who were in line with required inclusive criteria became participants in this study. There were three techniques used in analysing the data, namely path analysis as main technique of analysis and zero order correlation as well as t-test as additional techniques of analysis. The designed-theoretical model to identify the roles of self-esteem and motivation of having an affair towards numerous multiple sex partners and sexual intimacy among college students has well goodness of fit. The results also indicated that male students have stronger motivation of having an affair than female students. The strongest aspect regarding motivation of having an affair which correlates to numerous multiple sex partners among the participants is sex. In addition, female students have more positive self-esteem than male students. Conclusion: Negative self-esteem and sex are have influence in college students to engage in risky sexual behavior. © 2014 AENSI Publisher All rights reserved. To Cite This Article: Wahyu Rahardjo., The Roles of Self-Esteem and Motivation of Having an Affair Towards The Number of Multiple Sex Partners and Sexual Intimacy among College Students Who Engage in Risky Sexual Behavior. Aust. J. Basic & Appl. Sci., 8(23): 171- 175, 2014 INTRODUCTION Nowadays, the society has become more permissive in terms of sexual behavior and it enhances stronger reality of risky sexual behavior. Many groups, teenagers, young adults to adults, engage in risky sexual behavior, regardless of their orientation and occupational background. College students also engage in such sexual behavior. Johnson (1996) stated that freshman students experience sexual exploration without any maturity. Although at first, sexuality among teenagers and young adults is often associated with unwanted pregnancy, yet in reality, it has developed into risky sexual behavior (Brook, Adams, Balka, Whitesman, Zhang, and Sugerman, 2004). Risky sexual behavior is labelled not only as unwanted pregnancy but also as involvement in sexual activities which have potential in getting infected with Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) and HIV/AIDS (Halpern, Hallfors, Bauer, Iritani, Waller, and Cho, 2004). Examples of risky sexual behavior are having sex at early age, having multiple sex partners, having inconsistency in using condom, and having sexual intimacy with strangers or with anyone whose sexual health is unknown (Binggeli, 2005; Nikula, Koponen, Haavio-Mannila, and Hemminki, 2007; Noar, Zimmerman, and Atwood, 2005). Meanwhile, having many sexual partners is indicated as risky sexual behavior as logically, it means that the sexual intimacy will be more often. One of the suspected reasons of why someone has many sexual partners, especially multiple sex partners, is motivation of having an affair. In recent time, having an affair is common among young adults and adults, either having an affair with someone who is in steady relationship or with someone who is married (Barta and Kiene, 2005; Mattingly, Wilson, Clark, Bequette, and Weidler, 2010). Previous studies have indicated that affair is divided into two, namely non-sexual affair which involves feeling and emotion, and sexual affair (Burchell and Ward, 2011; Carpenter 2011; Goldenberg et al., 2003). Meanwhile, Barta and Kiene (2005) interpreted motivation of having an affair as not being too dichotomic, hence easier to be understood. They divided it into four aspects, namely individual dissatisfaction towards