Partner communication skills and condom use among college couples

The authors examined the effects of (1) communication-skills training, (2) relationship-specific education, or (3) risk information on the condom use of 106 heterosexual college students who were in sexually active relationships. Postintervention assessments of in vivo communication-skills demonstrated that participants in the communication-skills group acquired the skills to use direct requests for condom use and to counter partner refusal statements more effectively than participants in the other conditions (ps < .01). Despite successful skill acquisition, however, students failed to change their subsequent communication or condom-use behavior. This pattern of findings is considered in terms of how the development of sexual partnership in this cohort affects the interplay of motivation and skills for condom use.