Intertwined Dimensions: Empowerment and Attitudes of Mexican Teenagers Regarding Condom Use

Abstract

The central approach of this study is that the level of adolescents’ empowerment is closely related to their sexual practices, and in particular to their assessment of the use of the male condom and whether they use in their sexual encounters. Based on data from the Survey on Dating, Empowerment and Sexual and Reproductive Health in Adolescent High School Students in Mexico (enessaep 2014), factorial analysis is used for the construction of a Teen Empowerment Index and a Favorable Attitude Toward the Condom Index. Later, using linear and logistic regression models, the results broadly corroborate the expected positive association between the level of empowerment of young people with having a favorable attitude toward condom use as well as the actual use of the condom in their sexual encounters.