Increased condom use among teenage males, 1988-1995: the role of attitudes

Understanding whether and to what degree changes in young men's attitudes explain increases in condom use over time can be useful in developing more effective disease prevention strategies.

Data from the 1988 and the 1995 National Survey of Adolescent Males are used to determine changes in attitudes toward condoms, pregnancy prevention and HIV and AIDS. Two-limit tobit models are employed to investigate the association between these attitudes and condom-use behavior and to examine how this relationship may have changed over time.

Between 1988 and 1995, young men's attitudes toward partner appreciation of condom use, condom-use embarrassment and pleasure reduction from condom use all changed in a direction suggestive of more consistent condom use. However, attitudes related to pregnancy prevention and AIDS avoidance changed in a direction suggestive of less-consistent condom use. Changes over time in the strength of the relationship between three attitude measures (masculinity, pleasure reduction and partner appreciation) and condom use also were predictive of lower levels of condom-use consistency. Only the strength of the relationship between condom-use embarrassment and consistent condom use changed in a direction corresponding to observed increases in rates of condom use among young men.

Many of the significant changes in young males' attitudes toward condoms do not explain the increase in consistent condom use among adolescent males that occurred between 1988 and 1995. However increasing male contraceptive responsibility and emphasizing the risks and consequences of contracting HIV appear to be viable routes for policymakers to explore. Efforts particularly need to be targeted toward Hispanics.