Determinants of consistent condom use among college students in China: application of the information-motivation-behavior skills (IMB) model

• Published in: PloS one 2014-09, Vol.9 (9), p.e108976
• Main Authors: Liu, Zhihao, Wei, Pingmin, Huang, Minghao, Liu, Yuan bao, Li, Lucy, Gong, Xiao, Chen, Juan, Li, Xiaoning
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abortion; Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; Adolescent; Adult; AIDS; China - epidemiology; College students; Colleges & universities; Condoms; Condoms - utilization; Data collection; Data processing; Demography; Disease prevention; Engineering and Technology; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Female; Health aspects; Health care; Health risks; HIV; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Infection; Male; Mathematical models; Medicine and Health Sciences; Models, Theoretical; Motivation; Reproductive health; Research and Analysis Methods; Risk-Taking; Sex; Sexual behavior; Sexual Behavior - statistics & numerical data; Sexually transmitted diseases; Skills; Social Sciences; STD; Students; Students - statistics & numerical data; Surveys; Universities - statistics & numerical data; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0108976

Due to the increase incidents of premarital sex and the lack of reproductive health services, college students are at high risk of HIV/AIDS infections in China. This study was designed to examine the predictors of consistency of condom use among college students based on the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills (IMB) model and to describe the relationships between the model constructs. A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess HIV/AIDS related information, motivation, behavioral skills and preventive behavior among college students in five colleges and universities in Nanjing, China. An anonymous questionnaire survey was conducted for data collection, and the structural equation model (SEM) was used to assess the IMB model. A total of 3183 participants completed this study. The average age was 19.90 years (SD = 1.43, range 16 to 25). 342 (10.7%) participants of them reported having had premarital sex, among whom 30.7% reported having had a consistent condom use, 13.7% with the experience of abortion (including the participants whose sex partner has the same experience), 32.7% of participants had experience of multiple sex partners. The final IMB model provided acceptable fit to the data (CFI = 0.992, RMSEA = 0.028). Preventive behavior was significantly predicted by behavioral skills (β = 0.754, P