Predictors of non-condom use intentions by university students in Britain and Greece: the impact of attitudes, time perspective, relationship status, and habit

Objective: This study investigated the impact of socio-cognitive factors (attitudes and norms), time perspective (TP), relationship status (RS), and past sexual behaviour on intended non-condom use in 104 Greek and 93 British university undergraduates.

Method: Data were obtained by a self-report questionnaire. Data analysis included correlation, regression and ANOVA procedures.

Results: Attitudes were the strongest predictors of non-condom use intentions for participants who had casual relationships or were single (i.e. unstable relationship context), and past behaviour was the strongest predictor of non-condom use intentions for those who perceived themselves to be in an exclusive relationship (i.e. stable relationship context). Past behaviour was the strongest predictorof intended non-condom use in relation to all the variables of this study. TP managed to predict non-condom use intentions and moderate the attitudes-intentions relationship. In terms of temporal influences, participants high in fatalistic TP were strongly inclined not to use condoms, irrespective of their attitudes, but TP did not differ as a function of culture.

Conclusions: Our data revealed the value of considering the combined effects of relationship status, habit and attitudes, when investigating undergraduate non-condom use intentions and designing interventions. The construct of TP was introduced as a meaningful addition to sexual risk research.