Turning Research into Policy: A Survey on Adolescent Condom Use

Abstract:
In 1991 and 1992, the author surveyed 373 inner-city high school students about their condom use beliefs, attitudes, and practices. In this well written article, the author addresses three themes relevant to prevention education. First, because research often focuses on the dangers of adolescent sexual intercourse, the issue of desire is often overlooked. The oversight is most noticeable where young women are concerned, since there is an assumption that young women are the gatekeepers of sexuality rather than sexual beings with sexual desire of their own. Second, the article addresses the idea of working within, rather than against, adolescent ambivalence toward mortality and risk-taking. Unprotected intercourse is not always a failure to respond to risk but rather a response to some other risk--for instance, the risk of offending a beloved partner by insisting on condom use. Third, the article notes that student attitudes were better predictors of condom use than were knowledge about HIV/AIDS, perceptions about the availability of condoms, or embarrassment over obtaining condoms--and that time might be well spent in exploring students' attitudes toward condoms and condom use. The author concludes that to maximize adolescent condom use, researchers, educators, and practitioners should work within the context of the adolescent mind and world, which appears to assess condom use as a strategy complicated by sexual desire, ambivalence about mortality, and possible negative trade-offs.

Author(s): PHILLIPS, Sarah R., Ph.D.

Publication: SIECUS Report


Date Published: 10/1/1995

Pages: 4

Location Code: 8224