Alcohol use, condom use and partner type among heterosexual adolescents and young adults

Objective: The present study examined the links between alcohol use and condom use, and the nature of the sexual relationship in which these behaviors occurred, and tested the notion that partner type suppresses the negative, direct effects of alcohol use on condom use. Method: Data were collected as part of face-to-face interviews conducted with 1,417 (54% female) randomly selected young adults (aged 18-25 years) who had had sex in the past 6 months. Results: Using within-subjects analytic procedures, results showed that both drinking and condom use were more common with casual than with serious sexual partners, as expected. Moreover, consistent with the suppression hypothesis, the relationship between alcohol use and condom use became significant and negative only after controlling for partner type. Conclusions: These findings suggest that the interrelationships among partner type, alcohol use and condom use are complex and that the processes linking each pair of variables are best understood as part of a larger system of interconnected variables.