Correlates of safer sex communication among college students

Abstract

Correlates of safer sex communication among college students The purpose of this study was to examine factors that are thought to promote communication about safer sex and HIV among college students in the United States of America and to determine the extent to which communication about safer sex is important in the use of condoms. A better understanding of factors associated with safer sex communication can be helpful in developing HIV and STD prevention programmes for college students. Following approval from the institutional review boards of the six participating colleges and universities, researchers collected data from a random sample of students. The study included participant responses if participants were 18-25 years of age, single and sexually active. For the sample of 1349 participants, the mean age was 20.6 years. Sixty-three per cent of the sample was female, 50.5% white, 42.3% African-American, and the remainder of other ethnic groups. Over 50% of respondents reported frequent condom use, with 28% noting that they used a condom every time and 30.6% reporting condom use almost every time they had sex. Only 9.6% indicated that they never used a condom. The results of hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that the perception of quality of general communication with parents, the perception of a partner's attitude towards communication, communication self-efficacy, and communication outcome expectancies, were associated with safer sex communication. However, the association between safer sex communication and condom use was weak, suggesting that other factors excluded from this study are important in determining condom use for this sample of respondents. The findings provide some implications for HIV interventions. Interventions that enhance self-efficacy and positive outcome expectancies related to communication about safer sex are likely to foster discussion with a sexual partner. However, they might not lead to actual condom use.

Parent–Adolescent Sexual Communication and Adolescents’ Sexual Behaviors: A Conceptual Model and Systematic Review

“…Regarding perceived norms, it predicted greater perceived peer sexual activity (i.e., peer descriptive norms) in one study (Leland and Barth 1993), more perceived social consequences of sex in one study (i.e., injunctive norms; Dittus et al 1999), greater parental disapproval of sex in one study (Jaccard et al 1998), and was unrelated to peer norms in one study (Ragsdale et al 2013). Finally, overall extent of parent-adolescent sexual communication was significantly related to greater safe-sex efficacy in three studies (DiIorio et al 2000;Mastro and Zimmer-Gembeck 2015;Shoop and Davidson 1994) and unassociated with efficacy to refuse unwanted sex in one study (Somers and Ali 2011).…”

“…In three studies, path models and/or mediation analyses showed that parent-adolescent sexual communication was related to greater efficacy to use condoms and to communicate with a sexual partner about safe sex practices, which were then associated with greater safe sex behavior (e.g., fewer sexual partners, fewer instances of unprotected sex) (DiIorio et al 2000;Hutchinson et al 2003;Malcolm et al 2013). One study showed that parentadolescent sexual communication was not indirectly related to sexual intentions via self-efficacy to refuse unwanted sex (Beadnell et al 2007).…”

“…Condom-use and Safe Sex Communication Efficacy Twelve studies reported a significant relation between parent-adolescent sexual communication and adolescents' greater perceived ability to acquire and use condoms or contraceptives (Harris et al 2013;Hutchinson et al 2003;Hutchinson and Cooney 1998;Hutchinson 2010;Kowal and Blinn-Pike 2004;Malcolm et al 2013;Mastro and Zimmer-Gembeck 2015), successfully negotiate the use of condoms with a resistant or new partner (DiClemente et al 2001;Hutchinson and Montgomery 2007;Kowal and Blinn-Pike 2004), and to discuss healthrelated topics such as STDs and AIDS with a current or hypothetical partner (DiIorio et al 2000;Sales et al 2007;Shoop and Davidson 1994). Three studies reported mixed findings: Fletcher et al (2015) found that receiving messages endorsing sex as normative predicted emerging adult women's greater condom-use efficacy, though messages endorsing sex as strictly relational or marital did not; Levin et al (2012) reported that the reception of sex-positive messages positively predicted condom-use and safe-sex communication efficacy in emerging adult men, but not women, and that the reception of abstinence messages predicted a decrease in the same for both emerging adult men and women; Lefkowitz and Espinosa-Hernandez (2007) reported that higher quality parent-adolescent sexual communication predicted fewer perceived barriers to using condoms, but receiving messages pertaining to dating, fertility issues, dangers of sex, and abstinence, were unrelated.…”

Determinants of Actual Condom Use Among Adolescents in Thailand

“…In addition, Gebhardt, Kuyper, and Greunsven (2003) reported that adolescents' attitudes toward condom use were associated with actual condom use during their sexual exposure. Additionally, Diiorio, Dudley, Lehr, and Soet (2000) reported that self-efficacy in condom use was a major factor affecting condom use among adolescents.…”

Parent peer education: Lessons learned from a community-based initiative for teen pregnancy prevention

“…In response to surveys conducted by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, teens reported that their parents have more influence on their sexual decision-making than their friends, siblings, educators, or the media [6]. Recent studies suggest that parents may have more impact on adolescents' sexual behavior than do teen peers [7][8][9] and that parent-teen communication about sexual issues may have a protective effect that extends into the adolescents' college years [10,11]. Furthermore, to have the greatest impact on sexrelated behavior, parental communication with children about sexuality should take place sooner rather than later [12,13].…”