Locus of control and contraceptive knowledge, attitude and practice among university students.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the relationship between locus of control and knowledge, attitude and practice regarding pill and condom use among university students.


METHODS
The inquiry was developed in Campinas, a city in Southeastern Brazil, in 2006. A total of 295 adolescent newcomers to a public university answered a structured questionnaire and Levenson's multidimensional locus of control scale. The scores of the dimensions of locus of control were calculated and Spearman's correlation coefficient was used to assess their correlation with knowledge and practice concerning pill and condom use. In order to assess the relationship between the dimensions of locus of control and sociodemographic variables and variables related to the individuals' sex life, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests were used.


RESULTS
Male adolescents had higher scores of powerful others externality when compared to female adolescents (p=0.01). Students living alone had lower internality (p=0.01). When locus of control was compared to condom use in the first intercourse, considering only the 102 students who informed the age of the beginning of sexual activity, greater internality was found among male adolescents who did not use condoms (p<0.05). When the locus of control scores were correlated with contraceptive knowledge and practice, it was found that the higher the powerful others externality locus, the lower the adequate use of contraceptive methods (r = -0.22, p=0.03).


CONCLUSIONS
The powerful others externality locus influences the practice of contraceptive use in this group of adolescents.
Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brasil. asalheb@yahoo.com.br
Aline Salheb
AS
Alves
Maria Helena Baena de Moraes
MH
Lopes
D000293:Adolescent; D017280:Condoms / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003268:Contraception Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003276:Contraceptives, Oral; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult
D003276:Contraceptives, Oral