people do not appear to believe that they themselves are at risk, which is perhaps why
they do not engage in self-protective behaviour, and even when some acknowledgment of
risk is made, this is often dismissed and does not appear to relate to behaviour change.
Sex as an interaction between individuals
Because sex is intrinsically an interactive behaviour, psychologists have attempted to
add an interactive component to the understanding of condom use. In an attempt
to access the interaction between individuals, Abraham and Sheeran (1993) argued
that social cognition models should be expanded to include the interpersonal and
situational variables described by the literature on contraception use. In particular,
they have argued that relationship factors such as duration, intimacy, quality of com-
munication, status (casual versus steady) should be added to intrapersonal factors such
as knowledge and beliefs and situational factors such as substance use and spontaneity.
Wilkinson et al. (2002) also emphasized sex as an interaction and highlighted a role
for partner cooperation. They asked 398 unmarried students to rate both their
sexual behaviour and their perception of how cooperative their partner had been to
practise safer sex. The results showed that partner cooperation was linked to safer sexual
behaviour.
FOCUS ON RESEARCH 8.1: TESTING A THEORY –
THE SITUATION AND CONDOM USE
A study to examine situational factors and cognitions associated with condom
use in gay men (Gold et al. 1991).
Background
Homosexual men are at greatest risk from HIV in the Western world. Therefore, under-
standing safer sex in this group has obvious implications for health promotion. The aim
of this study was to examine which situational factors (e.g. physical location, type of
partner) and cognitions (e.g. desires, intentions to use drugs/alcohol) and mood are
related to either protected or unprotected sex. This study by Gold et al. (1991) illustrates
an attempt to place individual cognitions within both the relationship context and
the broader social context. In addition, the mood measurements reflect an attempt to
examine the less rational aspects of sex.
Methodology
Subjects A total of 219 Australian gay men completed a questionnaire containing
questions about two sexual encounters in the preceding year. They were recruited from a
range of gay venues (e.g. gay bar/disco, sex on premises venue, established gay group,
AIDS council premises, a medical practice known to have a large gay clientele).
SEX 201