Strategic Sexual Communication: Condom Use Resistance and Response

Abstract

This study examined the communicative choices people make in sexual situations as they decide whether or not to use condoms. Specifically, we examined the ways in which potential sexual partners attempt to seek information about one another and the strategies they use to persuade their partners to use condoms. Two hundred four college students who had engaged in sexual intercourse with a new partner in the last 12 months participated in the study. The results regarding information seeking suggest that few respondents tried to assess the risk of contracting AIDS or other sexually transmitted diseases with a new partner. However, many were interested in their partner's promiscuous behavior, perhaps reflecting more concern about the potential of a lasting relationship than about disease prevention. Participants also indicated that most overt attempts to use a condom were not met with resistance. Participants rated nine persuasive strategies for getting a partner to use a condom according to likelihood of use and persuasiveness. Male participants gave consistent ratings for persuasibility and likelihood of use. Discrepancies between likelihood of use and persuasiveness for the power (reward) strategy and the direct strategy were found for the female respondents. We concluded that college students have not personalized the AIDS risk. Many who use condoms may be doing so to protect against pregnancy rather than AIDS. Willingness to initiate discussion about condom use may be the most important predictor of use.