Purpose: To examine the protective role of health values in adolescents' in
tentions to use condoms.
Methods: Two hundred thirty-six sexually active adolescents who were attend
ing a municipal sexually transmitted diseases clinic were interviewed, usin
g standardized and constructed instruments, regarding their previous condom
use, health values, condom attitudes, social norms regarding condoms, self
-efficacy regarding condoms, and intentions to use condoms in the future. C
orrelations and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to
examine the direct and indirect effects of health values on intentions to
use condoms.
Results: Health values were significantly correlated with intentions to use
condoms with main and casual sexual partners, and accounted for a signific
ant amount of variance in intentions to use condoms with casual sexual part
ners, after controlling for demographic variables, past condom use, and con
structs from the Theory of Planned Behavior. Health values were also found
to moderate the relationship between condom attitudes and intentions to use
condoms with casual partners.
Conclusions: Efforts to include health values as a protective factor in hea
lth behavior theory and risk-reduction interventions are warranted. (C) Soc
iety for Adolescent Medicine, 2001.