Conscientiousness, perceived control over HIV and condom use in gay/bisexual men

Men who have sex with men remain a high-risk group for human munodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in the United Kingdom. Quantitative psychological approaches to modelling sexual risk-taking have originated from two theoretical traditions: social-cognitive (e.g. perceived behavioural control over HIV) and trait/dispositional (e.g. personality traits). Conscientiousness is a potentially important trait, but as a recent addition to the five-factor model of personality traits, it has been under-researched. A latent variable model of data collected from 378 Internet users suggested an indirect effect, via perceived control, of conscientiousness to unprotected anal intercourse. However, the association was specific to the casual partner context. Ever having undergone HIV testing was predicted by age, stronger gay identity, but not conscientiousness. The model illustrates that social cognitions are useful additions to personality-health models and that partner type is an important contextual factor to determine which models of sexual risk-taking should be considered. Future research should evaluate a wider range of predictor variables, longitudinal designs and the impact of different statistical modelling strategies on the size of the association between traits and risky sexual health behaviours.