The Ucla Multidimensional Condom Attitudes Scale: Validity in a Sample of Low-Acculturated Hispanic Women

Abstract

Condom use can prevent unintended pregnancy, HIV infection, and other sexually transmitted diseases. Unfortunately, scales assessing attitudes toward condom use have not been validated in Hispanic samples. Low-acculturated Hispanic women (N = 291) completed the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Multidimensional Condom Attitudes Scale (MCAS). The MCAS contains five subscales: Reliability and Effectiveness, Pleasure, Identity Stigma, Embarrassment About Negotiation and Use, and Embarrassment About Purchase. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate the factor loadings of the questionnaire items on the five factors. The model fit and factor structure were similar to results originally obtained with a college student sample. Higher education was associated with higher scores on Pleasure and lower scores on Identity Stigma, whereas financial strain was associated with higher scores on Embarrassment About Negotiation and Use and Embarrassment About Purchase. Results suggest that the MCAS can be used to assess condom attitudes among low-acculturated Hispanic women.