Gender differences related to heterosexual condom use: The influence of negotiation styles

The present study had three primary goals. The first was to identify gender differences related to negotiation styles associated with condom use. We h ypothesized that women would report engaging in more negotiation behaviors associated with condom use than men. The second goal was to determine wheth er the relationships between intentions to use condoms and past condom use for women and men were moderated by negotiation behaviors. The third goal w as to examine gender differences in responses to an open-ended question inq uiring why participants did not use condoms. Male and female college studen ts (N = 219) anonymously completed a series of measures. The results indica ted that women and men have unique roles in the negotiation process; women play a more active role in negotiation of condom use, while men play a more reactive role. The relationship between intentions to use condoms and past condom use increased for men when their partners were more active in the p rocess of deciding whether to use condoms. Responses to the open-ended item revealed that women identified perceptions of low risk as the most common reason for not using condoms, while men identified the inconvenience or una vailability of condoms as the most common reason. The implications of these results are discussed as they relate to health efforts to increase condom use.