An Exploratory Study of College Student Condom Use

Abstract

This study assessed a variety of psychological, health, and demographic measures and determined their relationship to condom use in a convenience sample of college students (n=476). The data were collected with the use of an anonymous questionnaire. It was administered in a variety of undergraduate classes at the SUNY College at Brockport during the Spring and Summer Semesters of 1992. Emerging from a factor analysis of the Condom Use Self Efficacy Scale were four reliable subscales labeled as followed: Mechanics, Partner's Disapproval, Assertive, and Intoxicants. A multiple discriminant function analysis was used to distinguish among the following three condom user groups: non-users, sporadic users, and ritualistic users. Compared to the other two groups, non-condom users (25.14% of the sample) were most likely to be: married or cohabitating, to be older, to live off-campus, and to have had a sexually transmitted disease. In contrast, sporadic condom users (47.40% of the sample) reported the greatest number of sex partners and were most likely to be single. Sporadic users also consumed more alcohol than the other two groups and were most likely to expect sexual enhancement from alcohol. Ritualistic condom users (27.46% of the sample) were the group most likely to live on-campus. They also were the most confident group in regard to their abilities to insist on condom use in general and to use condoms even when intoxicated. Implications of these data for enhancing college students’ condom use are discussed.