Objective: To identify the determinants of the intention to use and actual use of condoms in a sample of French adolescents based on Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behaviour.
Method: Two-hundred-and-thirty French secondary-school students (mean age: 17.68 years; SD = 1.08) completed a questionnaire about condom use intention.
Results: 'Perceived behavioural control', 'individual attitudes', 'subjective socio-cultural norms' and 'subjective norms of close friends and relatives' are the main factors explaining 33% of variance of condom use intention. For girls, intention is essentially associated with perceived control, subjective norms ('close friends and relatives', and then, 'socio-cultural norms') and individual attitudes, whereas for boys, it is more closely linked to individual attitudes and to subjective socio-cultural norms. The best predictors of the intention to use a condom are perceived control and individual attitudes for girls while, for boys, individual attitudes come before perceived control.
Conclusion: In order to design effective programmes for prevention of sexually transmitted infections, the determinants of the intention to use condoms must be considered.