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“No protection, no play”: A comparison of compliance -gaining communication used by African -American and European -American women college students to ensure safer sex

Jessica M Henry, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role that cultural background plays in a woman's negotiation of condom use. Previous research has failed to address intercultural differences in the negotiation and planning of condom use messages. Four research questions were addressed in this study: (1) How, if at all, do African American and European American women differ in their use of compliance-gaining strategies when attempting to persuade a partner to use a condom? (2) What relationship, if any, is there between the culture of the communicator, the secondary goals, and a woman's choice of compliance-gaining strategies when persuading her partner to use a condom? (3) What influence, if any, does the culture of the participant have on her planning of compliance-gaining messages when persuading her partner to use a condom? and (4) What influence, if any, does a woman's culture and her use of compliance-gaining strategies have on her reported level of condom use? These research questions were explored using a survey research approach. A total of 538 respondents completed the survey, which was designed to investigate the types of compliance-gaining messages women were likely to use and the reasons why they chose those strategies. There were two key findings in this study. First, African American women were more likely to simply ask their partners to use a condom, to present factual information, to criticize their partners, to deceive their partners, and to threaten their partners. Second, women who present factual information to persuade their partners to use a condom are the most likely to actually use a condom. On a practical level, the results of this research indicated that HIV/AIDS prevention programs should be culturally sensitive. In addition, it seems as though women should not only be given safer sex education, but also be taught how to use that information in their persuasive messages.

Subject Area

Communication|Health education

Recommended Citation

Henry, Jessica M, "“No protection, no play”: A comparison of compliance -gaining communication used by African -American and European -American women college students to ensure safer sex" (2003). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI3116576.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI3116576

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