Contraceptive Self Efficacy (Levinson, 1984)

• Populations: French Canadian adolescents
• Age ranges: M = 15.9 years (SD= 0.82) for girls and M = 16.4 years for boys (SD= 1.07).
• Languages: English, French
• Countries: Canada

Items

Female Scale

• When I’m with a boy, I feel like I can always control what happens sexually.
• I am unable to tell a boyfriend how I feel about sexuality, even when the boyfriend is able to talk about it.
• If my boyfriend and I become sexually aroused and I don’t really want to have sex, I can easily tell him “no” and stick to my idea.
• If my boyfriend didn’t talk about our sexual relations, I wouldn’t be able to either.
• If my boyfriend and I become sexually aroused and I don’t really want to make love, I can easily stop what’s happening and we don’t.
• If I were very in love or excited, I might have sex even if I was not protected (did not use contraception).
• Sometimes I do what my boyfriend wants to do, sexually, because it would be too complicated for me to try to make him understand what I want.
• I could not continue using birth control if I thought my parents might find out.
• I would be ashamed to go to the pharmacy and ask for pills or condoms.
• Sometimes I should talk to my boyfriend about contraception, but I can’t bring myself to do it when the situation arises.
• Sometimes I end up having sex with a boy because I can’t figure out any other way.

If my boyfriend  and i became very sexually excited and we were about to have sex

• I could easily ask him if he has a condom or tell him that I don’t have any birth control.
• I could stop for a moment so my boyfriend can put on his condom.
• I could tell him that I take the pill or that I have an IUD (if those are the contraceptives I use).
• I might stop before penetration if I couldn’t talk about contraception.

Male Scale

• When I am with a girl, I feel able to control my sexual desire.
• When I am with my girlfriend, even if I am very excited and want to make love; I can easily not have sex.
• If my girlfriend didn’t talk about our sexual relations, I wouldn’t be able to either.
• When I think about what it means to have sex (commitment, consequences), I can’t don’t do it so easily.
• If I were very in love or excited, I could have sex without worrying about contraception.
• Sometimes I do what my girlfriend wants to do, sexually, because it would be too complicated for me to try to make her understand what I want.
• I could not continue using a condom if I thought my parents might notice.
• I would be ashamed to go to the pharmacy and ask for condoms.
• Sometimes I should talk to my girlfriend about contraception, but I can’t bring myself to do it when the situation arises.
• Sometimes I end up having sex with a girl because I can’t figure out any other way.

If my girlfriend and i became very sexually excited and we were about to have sex

• I could easily ask her if she has any birth control, or tell her that I don’t have a condom.
• I could stop for a moment to put on a condom.
• I could tell him I have a condom.
• I might stop before penetration if I couldn’t talk about contraception.

Scoring

Not Reported

Citations

• Levinson, R. A. (1984). Contraceptive self-efficacy: A primary prevention strategy. Journal of Social Work & Human Sexuality, 3(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.1300/J291v03n01_01
• Levinson, R., Wan, C., & Beamer, L. (1998). The contraceptive self-efficacy scale: Analysis in four samples. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 27(6), 773-793. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022865900546
• Bilodeau, A., get, G., & Tetreault, J. (1994). L’auto-efficacite relative a la contraception chez les adolescentes et les adolescents: La validation de la version francaise de l’echelle de mesure de levinson. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 85(2), 115.
• Miaochen Long, Qiulian Xu, Yue Xie, Yue Ren, Ying Zheng & Changmin Niu (2024) Contraception and Reproductive Health Measurement Instruments for Adolescents and Youth: A Scoping Review, International Journal of Sexual Health, 36:4, 584-596, DOI: 10.1080/19317611.2024.2388262

Team comments

This measure originally developed by Levinson (1984).  Due to institutional access issues, data reported are from a French translation of the measure (Bilodeau, 1994)