The proposed research will investigate factors affecting the use or nonuse of the condom to prevent the transmission of AIDS and other STDs among adult males in the United States. The study explicitly recognizes that the condom offers additional protection from the risk of pregnancy and includes that factor in models predicting condom adoption and discontinuation. In addition, the study will examine how the characteristics of the community in which the man resides affects the condom decision-making process. During the first phase of the proposed project, we will interview and then reinterview a nationally representative sample of men aged 20-39. The interviews will obtain detailed information about the men's socio- demographic characteristics, their sexual and contraceptive histories, and their knowledge, attitudes and behaviors related to condom use and the threat of AIDS. During the second phase of the project we will analyze the survey data. Two stages of data analyses are planned. The first stage consists of descriptive analyses that will provide baseline data about group differences in knowledge, attitudes, perceptions and behaviors related to AIDS and condom use. The second stage of the analysis will test our theoretical model of the condom decision-making process. This model not only incorporates the decision-maker's responses to the risks of both AIDS and conception, but also includes the effects of such community-level characteristics as the prevalence of AIDS and other STDs. The results of the proposed research effort will be crucial for policy makers because of the importance of condoms in the fight against the spread of AIDs. Further, our focus on the decision-making process will be particularly useful in developing strategies for promoting condom use. Finally, since public policy initiatives are implemented at the aggregate rather than the individual level, our planned contextual analysis will provide information that is critical in designing such initiatives.
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