Models of health-related behavior: A study of condom use in two cities of Argentina

This study aimed at determining the relative importance of motivational and control factors in the prediction of condom use in a high-risk heterosexual sample from two cities of Argentina. Participants reported their attitudes, norms, control perceptions, intentions, and condom use with regard to main and occasional partners. Control perceptions was the main predictor for intentions to use condoms and actual condom use with both partners. Furthermore, the norm of the partner predicted condom use with the main partner, whereas the norm of family and friends predicted condom use with occasional partners. There were no differences in condom-use determinants across men and women. Interventions for this population should train at-risk heterosexuals to manage the personal and interpersonal difficulties of condom use and warn audiences of implicit theories that associate love and commitment with perceptions that condom use with main partners is unnecessary.