Perceived sexual self-control and condom use with primary and casual sex partners: age and relationship agreement differences in a Portuguese sample

Abstract

Objective: Consistent condom use is still not ideal. Research showed that perceived sexual self-control is associated with greater likelihood of using condoms. However, this association seems to vary according to age and relationship agreement (i.e. non-consensual non-monogamy, NCNM vs. consensual non-monogamy, CNM).

Design: Cross-sectional study with 307 heterosexual users of a dating web site for romantically involved individuals (81.8% men; M_age = 42.24, SD = 9.65, range: 23–76 years). All individuals were in a romantic relationship (M_length = 13.47 years, SD = 9.39).

Measures: Demographic information, perceived sexual self-control, condom use frequency (casual sex partners; primary partner in the last 3 months) and relationship agreement.

Results: Independently of relationship agreement, perceived sexual self-control was positively associated with condom use frequency with casual sex partners among younger and middle age participants, but not older ones (>49 years). Regarding the primary partner, a similar pattern emerged for CNM participants. In contrast, no significant association between perceived sexual self-control and condom use frequency with the primary partner emerged for NCNM individuals, regardless of age.

Conclusion: Our findings can inform evidence-based strategies to promote consistent condom use as an effective behaviour to prevent sexually transmitted infections, especially among older and NCNM individuals.

Keywords:

• Condom use
• STIs
• sexual self-control
• age
• relationship agreement
• monogamy

Note

Acknowledgements

This study was funded by Fundação Portuguesa para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) with a grant awarded to the first author (SFRH/BPD/73528/2010). The authors would like to thank Anabela Santos and the Second Love team for allowing access and publishing the web survey onto their website.

Notes

1 Converging with the lack of significant gender differences in condom use frequency, we found similar patterns of results in both models when examining men and women separately.