Personality characteristics of condom users

The California Psychological Inventory (CPI) and a survey of sexual behavior and condom use specifically developed for this descriptive study were administered to 132 sexually active, heterosexual male university students (mean age = 19.2 years; 75% Caucasian). Condom "users" (44% of this sample) were defined as those who reported using a condom in their last sexual encounter to ejaculation. "Sexually active" men were defined as those who reported some form of intercourse with a partner to ejaculation within the past 3 months. On the CPI, the condom users scored significantly higher than nonusers on the Achievement via Independence scale and marginally higher on the Socialization and the Social Presence scales. The mean CPI profile for the condom users yielded the Gamma personality type which denotes an externally-oriented, norm questioning personality. Gammas tended to be uninhibited, clever, witty, pleasure-seeking risk takers. Those men who did not use a condom in their last sexual encounter offered their reasons for not doing so. The most common reasons were not expecting intercourse to occur and they were not available. In terms of perceived risk for HIV-infection, only 12.3% of the men had taken the antibody test and 75% considered themselves to be at zero or low risk. Several suggestions were made for counseling strategies in promoting condom use in college-age populations.