The Mediating Role of Sexual Self-Efficacy on Protected Sex.

Abstract

Ascribed traditional gender role has rarely been examined in the topical area of protected sex. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between HIV knowledge, ascribed cultural gender roles of machismo and marianismo, acculturation, attitudes toward risky sexual behaviors and sexual self-efficacy on protected sex, and the mediating effect of sexual self-efficacy between these predictors and protected sex. Part of a larger study, Hispanic college students from a Hispanic-serving institution in a U.S. southern border city were recruited. Sexual self-efficacy was found a significant mitigating factor against sexual risks associated with machismo as well as a positive reinforcing element on attitudes toward protected sex. Study findings have implications toward the development of culturally sensitive evidence-based interventions that promote sexual self-efficacy skills among Hispanic males who strongly identify with culturally ascribed gender roles.