The double-edged sword of providing information about the prevalence of safer sex

A group of 267 college students participated in an experiment to determine the effect of communicating different percentages (i.e., 12%, 36%, 64%, 88%) of the prevalence of safer sex in the student population on condom-use intention, A positive linear effect of prevalence information on condom-use intention was demonstrated, although the information that 64% engaged in safer sex seemed most effective in changing condom-use intention. This effect was independent of previous sexual behavior. Although prevalence information had a positive indirect effect on condom-use intention as a result of a change in perceived social norms, it had a negative indirect effect because of perceived risk, That is, information indicating a high prevalence of safer sex lowered the perceived risk of AIDS and, as a result, the intention to use condoms