Influences of social power and normative support on condom use decisions: a research synthesis

Abstract

A meta-analysis of 58 studies involving 30,270 participants examined how study population and methodological characteristics influence the associations among norms, control perceptions, attitudes, intentions and behaviour in the area of condom use. Findings indicated that control perceptions generally correlated more strongly among members of societal groups that lack power, including female, younger individuals, ethnic-minorities and people with lower educational levels. Furthermore, norms generally had stronger influences among younger individuals and among people who have greater access to informational social support, including males, ethnic majorities and people with higher levels of education. These findings are discussed in the context of HIV prevention efforts.

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (R03-MH58073; K01-MH01861; R01-MH58563; R01-NR08325-01). We thank Darius Chan, William Fisher, Barbara Rye, Diane Morrison, James Westaby, Daniel Montaño, Danuta Kasprzyk and Christopher Agnew for providing unpublished data that we incorporated in this study. We also wish to thank Marcella Boynton and Kerry Marsh for feedback on an earlier version of this manuscript; Jodi Grace and Lori Scott-Sheldon for assistance with data retrieval; Ece Kumkale with editorial assistance; and Ringo Ho for preparing macros for the moderator analyses.