Motivations for condom use: do pregnancy prevention goals undermine disease prevention among heterosexual young adults?

ABSTRACT

PIP: This study explores the implications of using condoms for pregnancy prevention versus disease prevention, and examines intervention efforts aimed at understanding and changing condom use behaviors. Differences in motives for condom use and their implications for understanding frequency of use were investigated in a random, biracial (Black, White) sample of heterosexuals. A total of 902 respondents residing in Buffalo, New York, aged 17-25 years were interviewed. Results indicated that sexually active young adults were more likely to use condoms to prevent pregnancy than to prevent disease, regardless of race, age, gender, or relationship status. Reasons for use mediated the effects of relationship status on condom use per se and moderated the effects of attitudinal and perceptual variables on condom use. In addition, comparisons among condom users motivated by different prevention goals and nonusers (388 heterosexuals) revealed that differences among user subgroups were nearly as numerous and, in some cases, more forceful than differences between users and nonusers. Overall, these findings indicate that condom users comprise distinct subgroups, defined in part by their underlying motives for use, and underscore important conceptual and empirical reasons to distinguish among them.