HIV prevention beliefs among urban African-American youth

Abstract

Purpose: This study investigates specific beliefs related to prevention of AIDS and HIV infection among African-American teenagers.

Methods: This study administered valid and reliable measures of HIV/AIDS risk knowledge and prevention beliefs to 150 African-American teenagers. Demographic and psychosocial data were gathered.

Results: Black teenagers respond in socially acceptable and undesirable ways and this ambivalence can be explained within the theory of reasoned action. These teens simultaneously believed in the importance of safe sex behaviors while expressing doubt about the viability of some safe sex behaviors. Females demonstrated higher self-efficacy and self-control beliefs while males were more likely to endorse culturally loaded suspicious beliefs about AIDS contraction and transmission.

Conclusions: Those teenagers who perceived themselves as highly knowledgeable scored lower on reliable AIDS Knowledge and Prevention Beliefs measures than those who claimed moderate AIDS knowledge. Some of these "Know It All" teenagers may reflect a subculture of pseudo-confidence that requires special interventions.