COLLEGE-WOMEN AND CONDOM USE - IMPORTANCE OF PARTNER RELATIONSHIP

Because women who want to use condoms as protection against STDs must gain compliance from their male partners, women's use of condoms was e xamined within the context of their relationships with their sexual pa rtners. Sexual history, condom attitudes, and relationship information were gathered From a sample of 272 heterosexual college women. For th e 121 women with a current sexual partner, logistic regression analyse s revealed that both regular condom use and completely consistent cond om use were more likely in shorter relationships and for women who per ceived lower barriers to use. Regular condom use was also greater in r elationships described as high in trust, whereas consistent condom use was greater for women in their first sexual relationships. In additio n, many women reported using condoms early in their relationships, but changing to lower levels of use later. Implications of the current fi ndings for safer-sex interventions are discussed.