Condom Use by Hispanic and African American Teens and Young Adults

Abstract

Widespread use of recently-approved, long-acting hormonal contraceptives, i.e. Depo-Provera and Norplant, raises serious concerns that rates of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) may rise in the teens and young women who use these methods because they may perceive the probability of pregnancy to be very low. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 616 adolescent and young adult women in an innercity clinic, using a self-report questionnaire. Results: Users of long-acting or oral contraceptives were significantly less likely to have used condoms (OR 1.8, p=.005; OR 1.6, p<.000, respectively). In addition, discussing sex with friends was associated with more frequent condom use (p=.02). However, Hispanic young women were significantly less likely to have had such discussions with friends (p=.05), and they used condoms significantly less often than African American women (p=.03). Implications for HIV Prevention: Using the Health Belief Model (HEM) as a framework, perceived susceptibility appears to be relevant to HIV prevention efforts with this population. Education strategies should highlight susceptibility not only to HIV, a delayed outcome, but to more immediate outcomes of failure to use a condom such as Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID), infertility, and cervical cancer. Research is needed to understand the barriers to communication about sexuality between Hispanic women, in order to improve their ability to communicate and adopt safer sexual behaviors.