(1989) argued that increased condom use and not abstinence or non-penetrative sex or a
reduction in the number of partners is likely to be the best approach to HIV. As a result,
research has examined the prerequisites to safer sex and condom use in an attempt to
develop successful health promotion campaigns.
Do people use condoms?
Young people
Some researchers have suggested that the mass media campaigns have not changed
teenagers’ sexual behaviour (Sherr 1987) and that there has even been an increase in
sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among this age group in the USA (Boyer and Kegles
1991). In the UK, data indicate that there has been an increase in Chlamydia and that
the dramatic reduction in gonorrhoea seen in the older population is not evident
among younger people. Richard and van der Pligt (1991) examined condom use among
a group of Dutch teenagers and report that 50 per cent of those with multiple partners
were consistent condom users. In an American study, 30 per cent of adolescent women
were judged to be at risk from STDs, of whom 16 per cent used condoms consistently
(Weisman et al. 1991). The Women, Risk and AIDS Project (WRAP) (e.g. Holland et al.
1990b) interviewed and collected questionnaires from heterosexual women aged 16– 19
years. It reported that 16 per cent of these used condoms on their own, 13 per cent had
used condoms while on the pill, 2 per cent had used condoms in combination with
spermicide and 3 per cent had used condoms together with a diaphragm. Overall only
30 per cent of their sample had ever used condoms, while 70 per cent had not. Fife-Schaw
and Breakwell (1992) undertook an overview of the literature on condom use among
young people and found that between 24 per cent and 58 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds
had used a condom during their most recent sexual encounter.
Homosexuals
Research has also examined condom use among homosexually active men. Weatherburn
et al. (1991) interviewed 930 homosexually active men in England and Wales and
reported that 270 of them had had insertive anal intercourse in the preceding month,
with 38.9 per cent reporting always using a condom, 49.6 per cent never using a
condom and 11.5 per cent sometimes using a condom. Of the 254 who reported having
receptive anal sex in the preceding month, 42.5 per cent had always used a condom,
45.7 per cent had never used a condom and 11.8 per cent had sometimes used a
condom. Weatherburn et al. reported that condom use was associated with casual not
regular sexual partners and was more common in open and not monogamous relation-
ships. Therefore, within this high-risk group, condom use is low.
Bisexuals
In one study, Boulton et al. (1991) asked 60 bisexual men about their sexual behaviour
and their condom use. Over the previous 12 months, 80 per cent had had male partners,
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