Effects of Alcohol, Condom Request Style, and State Anger on Men’s Condom Use Resistance

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the distal predictors (alcohol expectancies, adversarial heterosexual beliefs) and proximal predictors (alcohol intoxication, partner's condom use request style, state anger) of young men's condom use resistance (CUR). Young, male, non-problem drinking, inconsistent condom users (N = 297) completed an alcohol administration experiment. After completing background measures, participants were randomly assigned to receive a control or alcoholic beverage (target peak breath alcohol concentration = .08%). They then read a randomly assigned hypothetical sexual scenario in which their female partner requested to use a condom either indirectly, directly, or insistently. Participants' desire to have condomless sex, state anger, and both coercive and noncoercive CUR intentions were assessed. Path analyses demonstrated that alcohol intoxication directly predicted noncoercive CUR intentions. In addition, a moderated mediation pathway was found such that, relative to sober participants, intoxicated men's sexual aggression-related alcohol expectancies were positively associated with their state anger in response to the partner's condom use request. This increased anger was related to stronger noncoercive CUR intentions. Adversarial heterosexual beliefs both directly and indirectly predicted coercive and noncoercive CUR intentions. Path analysis demonstrated that alcohol intoxication increased intentions to resist condom use through noncoercive tactics. In addition, men's misogynistic attitudes and alcohol intoxication were associated with greater feelings of anger, which predicted stronger coercive and noncoercive CUR intentions.