Increasing condom use by changing people's feelings about them: An experimental study

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Public Health
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Condom use is crucial for preventing pregnancy and STIs.
• Low condom use rates among young adults require understanding decision-making factors.
• Affective associations may influence condom use behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the causal link between experimentally manipulated affective associations with condoms and subsequent behavior.
• To examine how positive or neutral affective stimuli influence condom selection.

Main Methods:

• Evaluative conditioning (EC) procedure used to manipulate affective associations with condoms.
• Participants (N=171) underwent baseline assessment of beliefs and associations.
• Behavioral choice task measured condom selection post-manipulation.

Main Results:

• Positive EC significantly increased positive affective associations with condoms.
• Regular condom users in the positive condition selected more condoms.
• The effect on behavior was partially mediated by changes in affective associations.

Conclusions:

• Affective associations causally influence condom selection behavior.
• Interventions targeting affective associations may improve condom use.
• Findings extend understanding of the affect-behavior relationship in sexual health.