Decisional balance of condom use associated with risky sexual behavior in university students

The acquisition of a Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) and unplanned pregnancies are risks that young people deal when deciding not to use a condom when having sexual intercourse. During the decision-making process, individuals value the benefits (gains) and losses (costs) associated with a behavior. Cost-benefit analysis has been investigated to examine the differential impact of gains and losses on risky behaviours. The deci-sional balance approach emphasizes that costs and benefits are associated with risky sexual behavior. Decisions about condom use are a precursor to behavior, and this process may be influenced by perceived benefits. In the present study, it is proposed that the balance between the benefit and the loss of condom use contributes to consistent condom use. These factors as determinants of behaviour must be considered under the cultural context in which they are carried out. The objective of this research is to identify the relationship of gains and losses from condom use with risky sexual behaviour. It was hypothesized that: 1) Young people will evaluate the bene-fits (gains) with higher scores compared to the losses (costs) in deciding to use a condom in sexual intercourse. 2) The gains will be greater in those college students who use a condom more frequently and the losses will not be the same among those who use a condom. To evaluate risky sexual behavior and the use of the male condom in their sexual relations were considered. Condom gains and losses were measured with a measurement scale in a sample of 257 university students, aged between 18 and 39 years (M = 22.34; SD = 3.6) from Queretaro, Mexico. With reference to sexual behavior, it was found that 89.1 % have started their sexual activity. The average age of initiation of sexual life is 15.41 years. The frequency of sexual activity is once or twice each month. The mean of sexual part-ners is 4.2, with a median of 3. The 68.5 % reported using some contraceptive method and regarding the use of condoms, 27.8 % always use it and 5.7 % never use it. To eval-uate the decisional balance, subtracting the gain and loss factors created a net difference score. The gain factor was subtracted from its counterpart of the loss factor to indicate the preference for having sex with a condom. The decisional balance assessment indicates that the gains are greater than the losses (costs) of consistent condom use in sexual intercourse. Associations were found between gains and losses with indicators of risky sexual behavior. It is observed that university students who do not use a condom show greater losses from using it. In gains, there is an increase in scores when using a condom. Additionally, it is observed that university students, who some-times use a condom, show greater losses for using it, unlike those who always use it, which show low scores in the losses of using it. In gains factor, there is an increase in the scores when using a condom, that is, those who never or almost never use a condom have the lowest scores and as the scores increase, the frequency of using a condom in their sexual relations also increases. In conclusion, gains and losses from male condom use are associ-ated with risky sexual behavior (age of sexual activity, number of partners and condom use) in the university context. The findings provide support for the development of interventions that promote gains or benefits to increase consistent condom use. It is important to consider in specific interventions those young people who decide to continue having sex without using a condom despite the costs and possible consequences of not using it.