AEGiS-06IAC: An inverse relation between number of sex partners and condom use frequency among middle adolescents: cause for concern.

6th International AIDS Conference

San Francisco, California, USA — June 20-23, 1990

An inverse relation between number of sex partners and condom use frequency among middle adolescents: cause for concern.

Int Conf AIDS 1990 Jun 20-23; 6:350 (abstract no. Th.D.897)
DiClemente R, Durbin M, Siegel D, Krasnovsky F, Lazarus N; University of California, San Francisco, California, USA

OBJECTIVE: To identify predictors of condom use among high risk adolescents in an HIV epicenter.

METHODS: Data was collected from 386 sexually active ethnically diverse junior high school students (from a larger survey of 1,900 students). Predictors of condom use included: 1) demographics (age, gender, race, acculturation); 2) sexual and drug use behaviors (age at first sexual intercourse, frequency of sexual intercourse, number of sex partners, and drug and alcohol use); 3) HIV knowledge (scores based on transmission and general facts about HIV); and 4) psychosocial factors (self-efficacy, perceived susceptibility). Predictors of condom use were assessed in a simultaneous logistic regression model with the outcome measure, frequency of condom use, dichotomized as "always" v. not always.

RESULTS: An increased number of sexual partners was associated with less frequent condom use (p less than .004). Adolescents reporting 1, 2, 3-5, and greater than or equal to 6 partners reported using condoms during 48.7%, 39%, 27.4% and 27.2% of their sexual encounters, respectively. Odds ratios (with 1 partner as the referent category) were 0.67, 0.46, and 0.42, respectively. After adjusting for other variables in the model, no other factors beyond the number of sexual partners was independently associated with condom use.

CONCLUSION: Sexually active teens are at marked risk for HIV exposure for several reasons and these risks may be multiplicative: those with more sexual partners are progressively less likely to use condoms. Still incompletely understood are the antecedent psychosocial factors which predict multiple-partner sex. Given the lack of association between other variables tested and condom use (particularly AIDS knowledge), prevention efforts should target the subset of adolescents at greatest risk by focusing specifically on diminishing unsafe sexual behavior.

Keywords: AEGIS, Sexual Partners, Condoms, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, HIV Infections, Logistic Models, Students, Self Efficacy, Odds Ratio, Substance-Related Disorders, Data Collection, Adolescence, epidemiology, etiology, ICA6

900620
ThD897