Citation/Abstract

Premarital sexual behavior without using condom among adolescents is a major health concern all over the world. Although condom has been made available more than a hundred years, condom use remains inconsistently. This study aimed to investigate the relationships among attitudes toward condom use, personal characteristics, condom use self-efficacy, and actual usage of condoms among Thai adolescents. Also, the predictors of condom use were examined. The model for this study was based on Bandura's conceptualization of self-efficacy for the prevention of HIV/AIDS/STDs. A cross-sectional descriptive correlational design was employed on a cluster based sample (n=270) of male and female Thai vocational school subjects (18-21 years of age) in Ubonratchathani Province, Thailand. Data were collected by using a variety of survey measures.

The results showed that, of all participants, 180 participants (66.66%) have been sexually active. Among them, the mean age at first sexual intercourse was 16.88 years (SD=1.93). The youngest age at sexual initiation was 11 years-of age (3%). At the beginning of a sexual relationship, 13.3% reported condom use every time. At the last few times of a sexual relationship, 16.7% reported condom use every time. Furthermore, only 16.7% of subjects reported that in general, they used condoms at the times of sexual activity. The main reasons for using condoms were to prevent pregnancy (30%), and to prevent AIDS (30.4%). The main reasons for not using condoms included: 'not natural' (10.4%), and used other methods (5.6%). Significant correlations were identified among self-reported history of alcohol/drug use, attitudes toward condom use, and condom use self-efficacy on actual usage of condoms. Eleven percent (R ² =11.3%) was the variance in actual usage of condoms explained by gender, age, self-reported history of alcohol/drug use, duration of the current intimate relationship, and perceived preventive behavioral peer norms, knowledge of STDs/HIV/AIDS and pregnancy, attitudes toward condom use, and condom use self-efficacy. The empirical knowledge obtained from this study provide a rationale for nursing practice to conduct nursing interventions to achieve a change in condom use behavior among the Thai adolescents. Moreover, this study makes the contributions to health policy, nursing research, and community-based studies.