Power of a partner's love: Relationship commitment and loving one's partner only reduce condom use when one feels loved

INTRODUCTION: Despite the efficacy of condoms in preventing unwanted pregnancies and STI transmission, individuals' feelings of romantic love for their partner may hinder condom use. However, the independent effect of feeling loved by one's partner remains under-examined. Therefore, this study explored the effect of partners' love on condom use, and whether it moderates the effect of relationship status and one's own love. METHOD: Data from the publicly available subset of Wave 3 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health was analyzed. Participants (n=4,882) ages 18-28 provided information about a recent sexual relationship, including sexual activity, contraceptive use, and how much they and their partner love each other. RESULTS: Controlling for age, gender, and use of hormonal contraceptives, participants' perception of their partners' love for them was negatively associated with the odds of using a condom (OR=0.87, p=.038). Partners' love also moderated the effect of being in a committed relationship (vs. casual; OR=0.71, p=.016) and participants' own love for their partner (OR=0.85, p<.001), such that each was associated with lower odds of using a condom when partners' love was perceived as high (relationship status: OR=0.49, p=.031; own love: OR=0.66, p<.001), but not when low (ps>.50). CONCLUSIONS: The effects of two consistent predictors of lower condom use, being in a committed relationship and loving one's partner, were moderated by perceptions of partners' love. Future research is needed to elucidate the mechanism through which a partner's love has its effects, and to inform condom promotion efforts that target individuals' relationship needs.