Predictors of Contraceptive Self-Efficacy and Condom Use Among Young Black Women Who Have Sex With Women and Men

Abstract

Black women who have sex with women and men (BWSWM) are at risk for unplanned pregnancies, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). However, there is a paucity of studies assessing psychosocial factors related to sexual risk in this population. This study investigated the relationship among condom use; contraceptive self-efficacy; lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) identity; sexuality-religious conflict; parent support for participants’ attraction to women; and LGB community support within a sample of 162 participants who responded to an online survey. Participants were cisgender women (n = 152) and genderqueer or gender-nonbinary participants who were assigned female at birth (n = 10) aged 18 to 35. Hierarchical linear regression analyses indicated that LGB identity, low sexuality-religious conflict, and greater parent support predicted contraceptive self-efficacy and, in turn, greater contraceptive self-efficacy mediated the relationship between these factors and increased condom use. Implications for work with this population in research and clinical contexts are considered.

Keywords:

• Black women
• bisexual
• WSWM
• contraceptive self-efficacy
• condom use

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded in part by GLMA’s Lesbian Health Fund and Fordham University’s Center for Ethics Education.

Notes on contributors

Aaliyah Gray

Aaliyah Gray earned her master’s degree in Applied Developmental Psychology from Fordham University in 2019 and is now a Ph.D. Candidate currently working on her dissertation. Her research broadly focuses on psychosocial factors related to sexual behavior and sexual health outcomes among older adolescent girls and emerging adult women. She is particularly interested in understanding protective sexual behaviors and reducing negative sexual health outcomes among women. Her current research focuses on psychological, cognitive, and social factors of condom use behaviors in older adolescent girls of color and Black women who have sex with women and men.

Celia B. Fisher

Dr. Celia Fisher is the Fordham University Marie Ward Doty Endowed Chair in Ethics, Professor of Psychology, Director of the Center for Ethics Education, and Director of the NIDA-funded HIV/Drug Abuse Prevention Research Ethics Institute. Dr. Fisher has published widely and conducted NIH- and NSF-funded research examining sexual health and ethical issues in research and practice involving sexual and gender minorities, members of diverse racial/ethnic groups, and socially and economically marginalized youth and young adults.