The Relation of Motivation and Self-efficacy to Consistency of Condom Use: The Role of Sex Under the Influence of Alcohol

Youth ages 15 to 24 account for half of the estimated 20 million new cases of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) that occur each year (CDC, 2013). Consistent condom use is an important intervention target to prevent STI contraction among youth. The present study evaluated whether motivation and self-efficacy to use condoms predict subsequent consistency of condom use in a community sample (N=166) of female youth (ages 13-21) at increased risk for STI contraction. Additionally, the current study investigated if these relations are moderated by frequency of sex under the influence. Exploratory analyses investigated these relations in sex events with steady boyfriends only separately from sex events with other guys only. Data were analyzed from Project SAFE, a randomized controlled clinical trial investigating the efficacy of a Computer-Assisted Motivational Intervention compared to Didactic Educational Counseling for sexual risk and protective behaviors. Both motivation and self-efficacy to use condoms demonstrated a significant positive linear relation with subsequent consistency of condom use. However, there was limited evidence for the moderating effect of frequency of sex under the influence. There was some indication that the pattern of results differed in exploratory analyses including only sex events with steady boyfriends compared to sex events with other guys. Analyses were re-estimated including past consistency of condom use as a covariate. In these analyses there was some evidence for a negative main effect of frequency of sex under the influence. These finding have implications for the development of tailored interventions and future research