Factors Influencing Stages of Change for Contraceptive Use in College Students: A Path Analysis

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships of self-efficacy, social influences, decisional balance, consistency in past contraceptive use, and stages of change for contraceptive use in college students. Study design: A cross-sectional correlational study was conducted on a convenience sample of 185 Korean college students. Data collection was conducted by three trained research assistants over a six-month period in 2013. Path analysis with AMOS software was used to identify the effects of predictor variables on stages of change for contraceptive use. Results: Social influences, consistency in past contraception use, and self-efficacy had a direct effect on the stages of change for contraception use. Although decisional balance did not show a direct effect, it had a significant indirect effect on the stages of change through self-efficacy. These predicting variables explained 40% of the variance of stages of change for contraception use. Conclusions: The results suggested that the TTM is useful in explaining college students’ contraceptive behavior and that self-efficacy partially mediated the role of cognitive (social influence) and behavioral (past contraception use) factors on the stages of change for contraceptive use.