With more than 1 million Americans infected with HIV, nearly all of them through sexual transmission, and an estimated 12 million other sexually transmitted diseases taking place each year in the United States, effective strategies for preventing these diseases are critical. The appropriate and dependable use of latex condoms when engaging in sexual intercourse can to a great extent reduce a person's risk of acquiring or transmitting STDs, including HIV infection. In fact, recent studies provide compelling evidence that latex condoms are highly effective in protecting against HIV infection when used properly for every act of intercourse. The guard that proper use of latex condoms provides against HIV transmission is most evident from studies of couples in which one member is infected with HIV and the other is not, i.e., "discordant couples." In a study of discordant couples in Europe, among 123 couples who reported consistent condom use, none of the uninfected partners became infected. In contrast, among the 122 couples who used condoms inconsistently, 12 of the uninfected partners became infected. As these studies indicate, condoms must be used consistently and correctly to provide maximum protection. Consistent and correct use means using a condom from start to finish with each act of intercourse. (Benotsch, E. G., Kalichman, S. C., & Pinkerton, S. D. (2001).
One of the most unrelenting experiential findings among social relationships is that people tend to initiate and maintain relationships with people of similar characteristics. Several explanations have been proposed for this behavior including geographic and social segregation, the reinforcement of a person's own identity and values, and the preference of social groups for persons of similar characteristics. Indeed, in the analysis of selection of partners in the National Health and Social Life Study conducted in 1992, it was found that most sexual partners were selected from one of four locations: school, work, private party................
