Correlates of Condom use Among Community College Women: The Role of Victimization, Substance Use, and Mental Health Symptoms

Abstract

Research is needed to understand intersecting health risks among community college students. Applying a syndemic framework, the present research explored childhood sexual victimization, adolescent sexual victimization, intimate partner violence (IPV), marijuana use, alcohol consumption, and symptoms of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder as additive as well as interactive correlates of women’s condom use. Questionnaires were administered to a sample of 212 women between the ages of 18 to 24 attending a community college. A series of logistic regression analyses documented that an increased number of psychosocial risk factors was associated with not using a condom during sexual intercourse. Experiencing both adolescent sexual victimization and lifetime intimate partner violence (IPV), compared to experiencing one form of victimization, increased the odds of not using a condom. Endorsing both lifetime IPV and past year marijuana use, compared to endorsing only one of these factors, also increased the odds of not using a condom. These findings highlight the importance of targeting intersections between adolescent sexual victimization, IPV, marijuana use, and sexual risk behavior when developing educational programs for community college women.

Predictors of consistent condom use among young psychoactive substance users in Kampala's informal settlements, Uganda

“…This is because psychoactive substances interfere with cognitive performance, planning, and attention capacity thus making it difficult for the users to evaluate the high-risk sexual encounters that require the use of condoms. As such, some psychoactive substance users may forget to acquire condoms before a sexual encounter or even fail to use them [ [38] , [39] , [40] ]. Our finding is consistent with that of Kanda and Mash [ 41 ] and Schwitters, Sabatier [ 40 ] who indicated that young adults in Botswana and Namibia inconsistently used condoms once intoxicated with psychoactive substances.…”

College students’ preferences for information on self-initiated sexually transmitted infection testing

“…Physiological factors such as genital inflammation, relationship factors such as number of partners and community factors such as access to testing and preventives (e.g. condoms and pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV) were not explored (Hess et al, 2012;Orchowski et al, 2018;Passmore et al, 2016;Schofer, 2014;Traeger et al, 2019). Future related studies should therefore explore the STI testing communication preferences of college students alongside other unexplored STI risk factors.…”

Open pilot trial of an interactive digital application for campus sexual violence prevention

“…Sexual assault is also prevalent among students enrolled at 2-year/community colleges (Potter et al, 2020). For example, one study found that 34% of community college women in New England indicated some form of sexual victimization since the age of 14 (Orchowski, Gobin, et al, 2018). Sexual victimization is associated with numerous mental and physical health consequences, including posttraumatic stress, substance use, and chronic health conditions (Zinzow et al, 2012).…”