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Illusions of Safety in a Risky World: A Study of College Students' Condom Use
Author(s) -
Thompson Suzanne C.,
Anderson Kalin,
Freedman Debra,
Swan Joye
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1996.tb01845.x
Subject(s) - condom , feeling , psychology , social psychology , perception , risk perception , sample (material) , illusion , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , demography , safer sex , medicine , family medicine , sociology , chemistry , syphilis , chromatography , neuroscience
The role that costs, benefits, and perceptions of invulnerability play in condom use was examined in a sample of students ( N = 211) at 4‐year and 2‐year colleges. In multiple regression analyses, past condom use was related to relative invulnerability, low present risk, and inexperience. Less intended condom use was associated with high perceptions of relative invulnerability and low perceptions of present risk. It appears that many college students feel protected from HIV because they judge their current sexual environment to be safe due to monogamy, sexual history taking, and the ability to tell a partner's HIV status. Independent of that, feelings of relative invulnerability are associated with more condom use—perhaps an accurate judgment of past risky behavior.