The Trouble With Condoms: Norms and Meanings of Sexuality and Condom Use Among School-Going Youth in Kenya

Maticka‐Tyndale, Eleanor; Kyeremeh, Collins

doi:10.1080/19317611.2010.491377

Cited by 15 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 33 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…These include beliefs that condoms do not fully protect against STIs or HIV (because they slip, break or allow infectious agents to pass through) or even that condoms increase the risk of HIV transmission (because they are manufactured with the virus in them or with holes in them as a plot to wipe out the people of SSA, or that the virus is small enough to pass through condoms). As has been found in studies in Ghana, 52 South Africa, 75 Malawi 80 and Kenya, 73,74,81 when combined together, the specific content and explanations of susceptibility (such as those described here) along with self-and instrumental efficacy can present a major impediment to condom use.…”

Section: Inside Cognitions: Beliefs About Hiv and Condomsmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…Both an optimistic bias related to susceptibility to HIV and fatalistic beliefs have been documented across qualitative and quantitatively-based studies in Kenya 73,74 and South Africa. 63,75 Persistent beliefs about HIV transmission as a result of mundane activities such as being touched by someone who is infected, and events outside one's personal control such as witchcraft, spirits or spells have been documented in Ethiopia, 61 Ghana, 52 Kenya 24,73,74 and South Africa.…”

Section: Inside Cognitions: Beliefs About Hiv and Condomsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…63,75 Persistent beliefs about HIV transmission as a result of mundane activities such as being touched by someone who is infected, and events outside one's personal control such as witchcraft, spirits or spells have been documented in Ethiopia, 61 Ghana, 52 Kenya 24,73,74 and South Africa. [75][76][77][78] Combined with a fatalistic belief that God determines one's life course, including time and means of death, 73,79 these appear to contribute to an ambiguous association between perceptions of personal susceptibility and other cognitions such as self efficacy or the cost-benefit assessment of condom use.…”

Section: Inside Cognitions: Beliefs About Hiv and Condomsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, studies from Kenya, 73 Nigeria, 82 South Africa 83 and Zaire 84 have identified a core cultural assumption that men have a biological need for frequent sexual release, a 'natural' desire for diversity in partners, and an obligation to provide for women's sexual and fertility needs. Multiple sexual relationships and inseminations are taken as evidence of masculinity.…”

Section: Inside Cognitions: Beliefs About Masculinity Femininity Andmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this way of thinking, the inconveniences and disadvantages (costs) of condom use are the dominant influences on condom use since there are no benefits to use. 73,74 In interviews, beliefs that influence perceptions of susceptibility often combine with a discourse about the lack of instrumental efficacy of condoms. These include beliefs that condoms do not fully protect against STIs or HIV (because they slip, break or allow infectious agents to pass through) or even that condoms increase the risk of HIV transmission (because they are manufactured with the virus in them or with holes in them as a plot to wipe out the people of SSA, or that the virus is small enough to pass through condoms).…”

Section: Inside Cognitions: Beliefs About Hiv and Condomsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Condoms in sub-Saharan Africa

Maticka‐Tyndale¹

2012

Sex. Health

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is the region with the world's highest rates of HIV and other sexually transmissible infections (STIs), yet numerous studies show that condom use is generally rare. This suggests a need for a better understanding of how condoms fit within sexual practices and relationships in SSA. This paper seeks to address this need by reviewing research published between the late 1980s and 2011 on use and factors influencing use of male condoms in SSA. What is evident from this research is that condom use involves complex social and interpersonal dynamics, with structural and cultural conditions exerting an influence through framing social cognitions and setting boundaries on autonomy that make the apparently irrational choice of eschewing condoms a rational decision. The influences of poverty; relationships with parents, peers and partners; limited, insufficient or absent information especially in rural areas and among men who have sex with men; gender and sexual norms, and the dynamics of gendered power; and beliefs and attitudes about HIV, condoms and sexuality all have been shown to work against condom use for a large proportion of Africa's people. However, promising results are shown in trends towards increased condom use among single women in numerous countries, increasing acceptance and use of condoms among some university students, successes in producing potentially sustainable condom use resulting from select interventions, and resistance to succumbing to the dominant gender-power dynamics and structural-cultural impediments that women in groups have mobilised.

show abstract

Section: Inside Cognitions: Beliefs About Hiv and Condomsmentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Inside Cognitions: Beliefs About Hiv and Condomsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Inside Cognitions: Beliefs About Hiv and Condomsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Inside Cognitions: Beliefs About Masculinity Femininity Andmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Inside Cognitions: Beliefs About Hiv and Condomsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Condoms in sub-Saharan Africa

Maticka‐Tyndale¹

2012

Sex. Health

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Intoxication at Last Sexual Intercourse and Unprotected Sex among HIV-Positive and HIV-Negative Individuals in Uganda: An Event-Level Analysis

2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study examined, for the first time, the association between intoxication at last sexual intercourse and unprotected sex separately among HIV-positive and HIV-negative individuals. Data were derived from a nationally-representative survey of Uganda in 2011. Multivariable logistic regression analyses of the intoxication-unprotected sex association included adjustment for sociodemographic and behavioral covariates that were also examined as moderators of the association. Among HIV-positive individuals, intoxication was associated with unprotected sex, whereas among HIV-negative individuals, the intoxication-unprotected sex association was moderated by knowledge that condoms prevent HIV transmission. The odds of unprotected sex was 2.67 times greater among HIV-negative individuals who were unaware that condoms prevent HIV, an association not observed among those who possessed such knowledge. The results suggest that the intoxication-unprotected sex link be incorporated within Ugandan National HIV Prevention Strategies among HIV-positive and HIV-negative individuals. HIV-negative individuals who are unaware that condoms prevent HIV should be targeted for interventions focusing on increasing HIV transmission knowledge especially on the role of condoms in preventing the disease. The latter interventions should also identify those sociocultural and political beliefs about condom use that may serve as barriers to consistent condom use.

show abstract

Modeling Beliefs, Attitudes, and Intentions of Condom Use Among Secondary School Students in Kenya

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As in other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, youth in Kenya report low rates of condom use. Although several studies have explored reasons for the low condom use among Kenyan youth, not many have established linkages between lack of use and normative beliefs and attitudes around condoms. Using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this article examined whether beliefs and attitudes around condoms influenced intentions and actual condom use. Data for the study were restricted to 1453 sexually active youth during the last school break. Path analysis was used to examine the relationship between the TPB constructs and condom use among Kenyan youth. Results indicated a direct relationship between attitudes and condom use for male respondents and an indirect relationship between these two variables for females. Both males and females who expressed greater intentions to use condoms were significantly more likely to report they used condoms consistently. Also, male and female youth with higher perceived behavioral control were significantly more likely to have used condoms consistently. Males with friends who used condoms were significantly more likely to use condoms consistently. The findings suggest the importance of examining young people's attitudes toward condoms-in particular, those deeply rooted in misconceptions that serve to discourage safer sexual behaviors.

show abstract

The Trouble With Condoms: Norms and Meanings of Sexuality and Condom Use Among School-Going Youth in Kenya

Cited by 15 publications

References 33 publications

Condoms in sub-Saharan Africa

Condoms in sub-Saharan Africa

Intoxication at Last Sexual Intercourse and Unprotected Sex among HIV-Positive and HIV-Negative Individuals in Uganda: An Event-Level Analysis

Modeling Beliefs, Attitudes, and Intentions of Condom Use Among Secondary School Students in Kenya

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About