Abstract
HIV exposure is one of the greatest sexual risks in young people, and condom use is the best protective measure. Despite the preventive efforts, trend in condom use is still unclear. This study examines the trend of condom use by gender in Spanish young people, in different sexual practices (vaginal, oral and anal), relationships (regular and casual) and having sex after drugs consumption during the two past decades (from 1999 to 2020). For this, 14,472 people who ranged from 17 to 40 years old (63.5% women) filled the AIDS Prevention Questionnaire in each year. In general, low condom use remains stable and even gets worse regardless of the type of sexual practice, relationship and the substance consumption. Regarding gender, this trend is worse in women who have been less likely to report condom use than men have. Moreover, older people have reported a minor frequency of condom use than the youngest people have done, except for anal sex. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze why, despite preventive efforts, condom use seems to decrease over time.
Highlights
Sexuality in young people becomes an opportunity to improve their wellbeing and to expose themselves to various risks
The high prevalence of HIV-AIDS, together with the stigma that still exists, and the difficulty in testing, increase its severity [1, 3]. This mainly occurs in countries such as Spain, where the unsafe sexual behavior has shown the most worrying trend in HIV transmission over the last decade, and young people account for more
This study analyzes the condom use among Spanish young people over the past two decades to improve the understanding about sexual risk behaviors and, the
Summary
Sexuality in young people becomes an opportunity to improve their wellbeing and to expose themselves to various risks. Concerning attitudes, other past Spanish studies [30, 31], had already shown a worsening risk profile for HIV, based on the decrease of perceived susceptibility and condom use intention These results alert us to the importance of deepening the analysis of preventive strategies and behavior, they do not clearly indicate a trend in condom use at the international level and, even less, in Spanish-speaking countries. Considering this gap of knowledge and the relevance of condom use for HIV prevention, this study examines the trend of condom use by gender among Spanish young and early adult people, from 1999 to 2020 For this purpose, the analysis makes differences in sexual practices (vaginal, oral and anal sex) and relationships (casual and regular partner), as well as specifies the analysis of having sex after drugs consumption as one of the most important high-risk situations. We have asked what role could age play in condom use
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