Individual, interpersonal, and community predictors of consistent condom use among Taiwanese university students

ABSTRACT

This study examines the predictive value of individual, interpersonal, and community factors for consistent condom use among university students in Taiwan. The analytic sample for this cross-sectional study comprised 105 sexually active students, a subgroup of the respondents in a survey on university students in mid-Taiwan, with a mean age of 21, and 51.4% being female. The outcome variable was assessed as the proportion of times a condom was used in sex with steady sex partners. Risky sex appeared less related to having multiple sex partners (8.57%) than with inconsistent condom use (71.4%). Hierarchical regression analysis showed that 47.4% of variance in the outcome variable could be explained by AIDS knowledge, class adjustment, perception of good friends’ condom use, and discussion of condom use with good friends. This study found that predictors across different levels may work in combination to influence students’ condom use. Enhancing HIV/AIDS knowledge, improving class adjustment, facilitating peer norm of condom use may work in combination to increase students’ condom use.

KEYWORDS:

• HIV/AIDS
• sexual behavior
• prevention
• condom
• Taiwan
• ecology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Chung-Shan Medical University in Taiwan [grant number 0990921001].