Birth Control Versus AIDS Prevention: A Hierarchical Model of Condom Use Among Young People
Jost Reinecke; Peter Schmidt; Icek Ajzen
Journal of Applied Social Psychology 27(9): 743-759
1997
ISSN/ISBN: 0021-9029 DOI: 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1997.tb00657.xDocument Number: 268541
The authors report the results of a nationwide survey of young people in Germany which applied the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1985, 1991) to condom use for purposes of birth control and with new sexual partners (to prevent AIDS). A hierarchical model, in which the 2 functions of condom use were treated as separate 2nd-order factors, was found to be superior to a single-factor model. The hierarchical model also provided evidence for the convergent and discriminant validities of indicators used to assess the constructs in the theory of planned behavior. Attitudes, subjective norms, and perceptions of behavioral control all made significant contributions to the predictions of intentions, accounting for 62.0% and 70.9% of the variance for birth control and Aids prevention, respectively. Perceived behavioral control carried most of the weight in the former prediction, while attitudes carried most of the weight in the latter. Implications of these findings are discussed.