Hypertension in the San Antonio Heart Study and the Mexico City Diabetes Study: sociocultural correlates.

The Prevention Marketing Initiative a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention program promotes a multifaceted strategy for reducing the sexual transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among unmarried young adults 18-25 years old. This initiative applies marketing and consumer-oriented technologies based on behavior change theories to the design of effective interventions. Described in this paper is the use of a semi-structured elicitation procedure during the formative research phase to identify the underlying behavioral determinants of consistent condom use among several segments of the young adult population. A content analysis of responses to open-ended questions was used to identify the most frequently mentioned positive and negative consequences of consistent condom use in a sample of 314 young adults from 3 US cities who had had vaginal intercourse in the preceding 3 months and used condoms at least once. The sample was stratified by gender ethnic group socioeconomic status type of partner and consistency of condom use. Men were more likely than women to mention that consistent condom use would result in their being considered a responsible person to express concerns about reductions in pleasurable feelings and to perceive pregnancy prevention as a disadvantage while women were more concerned than men about the condom breaking or slipping off. Consistent condom users were more likely than occasional users to cite friends relatives medical providers and their partner as approving of condom use every time; the partner was described as disapproving significantly more often by occasional than consistent users. Convenience and availability were the most frequently mentioned facilitators of condom use. These findings can be used for the design of both condom promotion programs and larger-scale quantitative research.