"Let´s Talk About Condoms": The association between culture and condom negotiation strategies

• Autor(a) principal: Hardeel, Astrid E. S.
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/27423
• topic: Condom negotiation; High context/low context communication; Self-construal; Crosscultural psychology; Negociação de preservativos; Alto/baixo contexto de comunicação; Autoimagem; Psicologia transcultural

Former research suggests that individuals from low context communication cultures are more likely to use direct condom negotiation strategies (e.g., direct request), whereas individuals from high context communication cultures are more likely to use indirect condom negotiation strategies (e.g., seduction). We examined the association between context communication culture and the use of different condom negotiation strategies in two distinct cultural contexts – Germany and India. Moreover, we investigated if this association is explained by self-construal (i.e., how individuals define themselves in relation to others), considering that self-construal has been related to the use of specific communication and negotiation styles. To test these hypotheses, we conducted a cross-sectional study with 230 participants (Mage = 25.81, SD = 5.51). We developed and validated the Expanded Condom Negotiation Scale (ECNS), a scale to assess different condom negotiation strategies in terms of orientation (condom avoidant vs. condom promoting) and directness (direct vs. indirect). Results showed that participants from India reported using more indirect, whereas participants from Germany reported using more direct condom negotiation strategies. Higher (vs. lower) context communication was associated with more use of direct and indirect condom avoidant as well as more use of indirect condom promoting strategies and less use of direct condom promoting strategies. The association between higher (vs. lower) context communication with more use of indirect condom promoting strategies was explained by an interdependent self-construal. In conclusion, this study illustrates the importance of examining cultural variables on an individual level to understand why individuals use distinct condom negotiation strategies.