A rose by any other name? Objective knowledge, perceived knowledge, and adolescent male condom use.

Objective: To investigate the role of objective and perceived knowledge about condoms in adolescent males' condom use at first intercourse.

Methods: A longitudinal analysis was conducted of data from a nationally representative sample of 404 virgin male adolescents who were aged 15 to 17 years at wave 1 and reported becoming sexually experienced at the second wave of data collection. Objective knowledge was measured as a 5-item knowledge test about condoms.