a growing experience - Student Services - University of Melbourne

HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTSOf particular importance to students’ health is the pattern of condom usage bysexually active students. Only about 50 per cent of respondents who saw thisquestion as applicable to them (n=367) indicate that they and their partner always usea condom. Table 52 provides the information for all respondents, as well as for maleand female students separately. It is clear that a high proportion of students areputting themselves and their partners at risk. In excess of one quarter of male studentsindicate that they ‘never’ use a condom, while close to one third of female students‘sometimes’ use a condom.Table 52Pattern of condom usage by sexually active students 262 (n=367)MalesFemalesTotalNumberPercentageNumberPercentageNumberPercentageFrequency of condom usageNever Sometimes Always3626.34319.080*21.83324.17131.410428.36849.611249.6183*49.9*Because some students did not indicate their gender, the total number is higher than the sum of the number of males andfemales.Few demographic or situational factors differentiate significantly among students’frequency of use of condoms. There is a significant association between condom useand age 263 , as well as between condom use and marital status 264 . Older students andstudents with partners make less use of condoms. There are some country categoriesthat show variations from the expected levels of condom usage: PR China has ahigher than expected percentage who always use condoms, while to a less markeddegree students from Indonesia, Other South East Asia and the Pacific Countries, andEurope have slightly higher than expected percentages who ‘never’ use condoms 265 .The Perception of Gambling/Smoking scale score of those who ‘never’ use condomsis significantly higher than those who ‘always’ use them 266 . There was no significantdifference in Connectedness and Cultural Stress scale scores based on condom usage.Multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine whether a significant modelof prediction of condom use could be found. A significant model consisting of twopredictors resulted (F(2,361)=15.46, p