Locus of control and contraceptive knowledge, attitude and practice among university students

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:To assess the relationship between locus of control and knowledge, attitude and practice regarding pill and condom use among university students. METHODS:The inquiry was developed in Campinas, a city in Southeastern Brazil, in 2006. A total of 295 adolescent newcomers to a public university answered a structured questionnaire and Levenson's multidimensional locus of control scale. The scores of the dimensions of locus of control were calculated and Spearman's correlation coeffi cient was used to assess their correlation with knowledge and practice concerning pill and condom use. In order to assess the relationship between the dimensions of locus of control and sociodemographic variables and variables related to the individuals' sex life, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests were used. RESULTS:Male adolescents had higher scores of powerful others externality when compared to female adolescents (p=0.01). Students living alone had lower internality (p=0.01). When locus of control was compared to condom use in the fi rst intercourse, considering only the 102 students who informed the age of the beginning of sexual activity, greater internality was found among male adolescents who did not use condoms (p<0.05). When the locus of control scores were correlated with contraceptive knowledge and practice, it was found that the higher the powerful others externality locus, the lower the adequate use of contraceptive methods (r = -0.22, p=0.03). CONCLUSIONS:The powerful others externality locus infl uences the practice of contraceptive use in this group of adolescents. Studies designed to understand the decision-making process concerning contraception in adolescents remain inconclusive. However, multiple factors are known to infl uence the decision-making process, resulting in attitudes and practices. Data show that there is a gap between knowledge and adequate practice regarding contraception. 10Personal characteristics and personality are also known to infl uence behavior, contributing to the use or nonuse of contraception in adolescence. 1,3The locus of control scale is used for this type of assessment. Locus of control refers to an individual's generalized expectations concerning where control over subsequent events resides. In other words, who RESUMO OBJETIVO: Avaliar a relação do lócus de controle com conhecimento, atitude e prática relacionados à pílula e ao preservativo entre adolescentes estudantes universitários. MÉTODOS:Estudo tipo inquérito desenvolvido em Campinas, SP, em 2006. O total de 295 adolescentes ingressantes de uma universidade pública respondeu a um questionário estruturado e à escala multidimensional de lócus de controle de Levenson. Foram calculados os escores das dimensões do lócus de controle e o coefi ciente de correlação de Spearman para avaliar a correlação com o conhecimento e a prática do uso de pílula e preservativo. Para avaliar a relação entre as dimensões do lócus de controle e as variáveis sociodemográfi cas e variáveis relacionadas à vida sexual foram usados os test...

Sexual behaviour among initial academic students

“…20 Among those who prevented themselves, the contraception method elected by adolescents was condoms (32.5%), followed to a lesser extent by the pill, a fact that is consistent with another study. 21. Research on contraceptive practices of 487 students of a public university, identified high rates of use of these methods, especially condoms and the pill.…”

Knowledge, attitude and practice of condom use by women of an impoverished urban area

“…Research conducted in Campinas-SP with 295 university students about the birth control pill and condom use revealed that knowledge and attitude were adequate, but the practice was unsatisfactory for both genders (20) . Similarly, the Family Development Center/Natural Birth Center, an agency of the Universidade Federal do Ceará, developed a KAP research with 35 women before and after an educational intervention on the female condom.…”

“…All of these studies found no significant associations between the components of the knowledge, attitude and practice of condom use (14,20,25) . Regarding knowledge of condom use, a study of 375 sexually active African-American and Hispanic workers showed that the group with the most knowledge/ability to put a condom on an anatomical model was also the one which reported using condoms more during sexual activity.…”

Possíveis influências na sexualidade de universitários da área de saúde

“…Dos pesquisados, 54,3% responderam estar satisfeitos com a universidade. Refletese que a identificação pessoal com o curso escolhido, sobretudo nos períodos iniciais da graduação, é considerada uma importante fonte de satisfação, tendo em vista que o comprometimento com uma escolha em termos vocacionais encerra uma avaliação mais otimista das possibilidades, relativiza as dificuldades eventuais para obtenção de resultados e promove um maior bem-estar psicológico, até mesmo em outros parâmetros da vida pessoal 15 .…”