Background: Adolescents use condoms more consistently with casual sex partners (CSP) than with main sex partners (MSP). Differences in perceived risk for sexually transmitted diseases (PRSTD) may account, in part, for differences in condom use by type of partner. The objective of this study was to determine the association between PRSTD and partner-specific intentions to use condoms.
Methods: Adolescents (14-19 years old) were recruited from a STD clinic (N=236). After examination and diagnosis by a clinician, subjects were interviewed about their PRSTD and their future intentions to use condoms. The 5-item measures of PRSTD were partner-specific (for MSP,α=0.86; for CSP,α=0.90). The 4-item measures of intentions to use a condom the next time he/she had sex were also partner-specific (for MSP,α=0.91; for CSP,α=0.87). Partner-specific measures of PRSTD were compared using repeated measures analysis of variance as were partner-specific measures of intentions. In order to test the study hypothesis, differences between the partner-specific measures of PRSTD ([PRSTD for CSP] minus [PRSTD for MSP]) and differences between partner-specific measures of intentions ([intentions for CSP] minus [intentions for MSP]) were calculated. Next, each difference score was dichotomized into no difference (difference score = 0) and some difference(difference score > 0). Finally, the association between having some difference in PRSTD and having some difference in intentions was determined using chi-square tests.
