Among a nationally representative sample of 932 sexually experienced unmarried women aged 17-44, 41% reported using
condoms for protection against
sexually transmitted diseases, and 30% said they used
condoms for this reason every time or most times they had intercourse. While 67% of unmarried
condom users cited disease prevention as their primary motivation for choosing this method, only 4% said
contraception was their sole reason for using
condoms; the remaining 29% gave both reasons.
Condom use for disease prevention appeared most common among young women, never-married women, those with the highest incomes, women at an early stage of their reproductive career, women who had not been surgically sterilized and were not using
oral contraceptives, those who believed in the effectiveness of
condoms and women who had intercourse infrequently. Results of logistic regression analysis showed that black women and those who believed
condoms and spermicides are effective in protecting against disease were about twice as likely as their counterparts to use
condoms for disease prevention every time or most times they had sex; women who had intercourse two or more times a week, who used the pill or who had been pregnant were about half as likely as others to do so.