CONTRACEPTIVE AND CONDOM USE ADOPTION AND MAINTENANCE - A STAGE PARADIGM APPROACH

The Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change was examined for its app licability to contraceptive and condom use adoption and maintenance us ing N = 248 heterosexually active college-age men and women. The model posits that individuals do not go directly from old behaviors to new behaviors, but progress through a sequence of stages: precontemplation , contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance, The stages of c hange offer a temporal dimension that provides information regarding w hen a particular shift in attitudes, intentions, and behavior may occu r. The model also postulates a set of constructs that act as sensitive intervening or outcome variables-the pros and cans of change and self -efficacy. The results demonstrated that individuals were furthest alo ng in the stages of change for general contraceptive use, followed clo sely by condom use with other (e.g., casual) partners, and then condom use with main partners. Although no sex differences were found for th e stages for the three separate contraceptive behaviors, males and fem ales differed on the pros and cans and levels of self-efficacy when en gaging in intercourse with the two types of partners. MANOVA/ANOVA res ults indicated that the relationship between stages and other construc ts follows predicted patterns suggesting that the transtheoretical mod el may provide a useful framework or paradigm for understanding contra ceptive and condom use behavior.