Development and Validation of a Condom Self-Efficacy Scale for College Students

Abstract

This study proposed to develop and validate a scale for the college population that measures self-efficacy in using condoms. The Condom Use Self-Efficacy Scale (CUSES) was derived from several sources and consisted of 28 items describing an individual's feelings of confidence about being able to purchase condoms, put them on and take them off, and negotiate their use with a new sexual partner. This scale was administered to a sample of 768 college students. It was found to possess adequate reliability (Cronbach's alpha ? .91; test-retest correlation ? .81) and correlated well with the Attitude Toward the Condom Scale (r ? .51) and the Contraceptive Self-Efficacy Scale for women (r ? .55). Our scale also correlated with a measure of intention to use condoms (r ? .40) but was unrelated to a measure of social desirability. Students who differed on measures of previous condom use as well as on sexual intercourse experience also showed significant differences on this scale in the expected direction, indicating evidence of this scale's discriminant validity. The potential uses of this scale in a college population are discussed, along with the issues underlying condom usage self-efficacy.

Index Terms:

• college students
• condoms
• self-efficacy