Values and Sexual Behaviour in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

Despite the profusion of social cognitive models for the prediction of sexual behaviour, we have only limited knowledge as to the role of individual values in predicting risky sexual activity. This study assessed the relationship between a recently developed value structure and sexual behaviour in the context of rising HIV infection in central and eastern Europe. Five hundred and three respondents (business people, doctors and nurses) from Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Poland and Russia completed Schwartz’s Portrait Values Questionnaire (Schwartz, Melech, Lehmann, Burgess, & Harris, 2001) and reported their condom use, partnership history and record of sexual disease. Results indicated that values had a moderate but consistent relationship with sexual behaviour, with riskier sexual activity reported by those high on Openness to Change, Hedonism and Self- Enhancement. These findings are discussed in the context of the need for culturally sensitive interventions in order to tackle the growing HIV epidemic in this region.