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Correlates of intention to use condoms among Sub-Saharan African youth: The applicability of the theory of planned behaviour

Department of Work & Social Psychology and Department of Health Education & Promotion, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands, herman.schaalma{at}maastrichtuniversity.nl

Leif Edvard Aarø

Research Centre for Health Promotion, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Norway, Division of Mental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway

Alan J. Flisher

Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Adolescent Health Research Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, nd Red Cross Children's Hospital, Rondebosch, South Africa

Catherine Mathews

Health Systems Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Sylvia Kaaya

Department of Psychiatry, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Hans Onya

Health Promotion Unit, University of Limpopo, Sovenga, South Africa

Anders Ragnarson

Swedish Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and Department of Public Health Sciences, Division of International Health, Karolinska Institute Stockholm, Sweden

Knut-Inge Klepp

Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway

Aims: To test the applicability of an extended version of the theory of planned behaviour for the study of condom use intentions among large samples of young people in South Africa and Tanzania. Methods: Baseline data of a randomized controlled trial of school-based HIV/AIDS prevention programmes were used. The setting comprised secondary schools in the regions of Cape Town, Polokwane and Dar es Salaam. Participants were 15,782 secondary school students. The main measures were scales for intentions, knowledge, risk perceptions, attitudes, perceived social norms and perceived self-efficacy regarding condom use. Results: Seven variables accounted for 77% of the variance in intentions to use condoms: attitudes (β = 0.17), injunctive norms (β = 0.27), self-efficacy (β = 0.41), gender (lower condom use intentions among females), being a student at the Dar es Salaam site (lower scores than students in Cape Town and Polokwane), socioeconomic status (higher intentions with higher status), and access to condoms (higher intentions with higher access). Conclusions: Our results are comparable to those of studies conducted in Europe and the USA. Social cognition models such as the theory of planned behaviour are applicable in understanding the correlates of condom use intentions in African contexts.

Key Words: Condom use • HIV/AIDS • Sub-Saharan Africa • theory of planned behaviour • youth/adolescents

Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, Vol. 37, No. 2 Suppl, 87-91 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1403494808090632


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