Promoting Safer Sexual Behavior on the HBCU Campus through a Focus on Ethnic Identity

Because HIV disparity exists in African American populations, condom use is of public health significance. The present study was to identify whether ethnic identity is useful in predicting condom use among emerging adults attending a historically Black college/university (HBCU). Participants included 255 African American college students recruited from a HBCU in the south. Participants were surveyed on attitudes toward condom use, subjective norms about condom use, self-efficacy to use condoms, and ethnic identity. Logistic regression was used to construct a model of condom use behavior. Results indicated that ethnic identity and self-efficacy to use condoms were significant predictors of condom use (p<.05). However, self-efficacy and ethnic identity, together, were the strongest predictors of condom use. Additionally, participants who scored high on ethnic identity were 1.6 times more likely to use condoms than those who scored low on ethnic identity. Likewise, participants who scored high on ethnic identity and self-efficacy, together, were 2.8 times more likely to use condoms. These results imply that a focus on ethnic identity and cultural belonging may be worthwhile additions to university interventions and public health programs aiming to increase condom use behavior to reduce HIV/STIs on predominantly African American college campuses.