A very interesting article on the link between condoms and other contraceptive use was recently published online in the Journal of Adolescent Health. The studied followed young women, aged 15-24, who were about to start using hormonal contraception to see what happened to their condom use. What they found was that, although some women did continue to use both condoms and hormonal contraceptives -- known as "dual method" use, most stopped using condoms as soon as they started taking the hormones. The most important factor in whether they continued seem to be not the women's thoughts about the importance of condom use but their partner's. This is not particularly surprising, as condoms are a male-controlled contraceptive, and young women's self-efficacy around condom negotiation may decrease once pregnancy is off the table.
That said, dual method use is important, because hormonal contraceptives don't protect against sexually transmitted diseases. In addition, it may be harder for people to start using condoms again after they've gotten used to doing without them. Only around half the former condom users in the study went back to using condoms when they discontinued hormonal contraceptives. This means that they went from being at low risk for both pregnancy and STDs, to being at low risk pregnancy, to being at high risk for both. Clearly doctors and educators need to do a better job of stressing the importance of consistent condom use - even for young women who are using alternative methods to prevent pregnancy.
Source: http://std.about.com/b/2012/10/17/condoms-and-contraception.htm
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