AIDS risk behavior and attitudes towards safer sex were studied in a sample of 666 African American and 626 European American women. Condom use, AIDS-related knowledge, risk perception, self-efficacy beliefs, attitudes and perceived partner attitudes, and an assertive coping style were analyzed with regard to mean differences and predictive power in both ethnic groups. Compared to European American women, African American women had less knowledge and lower self-efficacy beliefs towards safer sex behavior, but they perceived themselves to be at more risk and reported greater condom use. Further, ethnicity was found to moderate the effects of the psychological predictors on safer sex behavior. This moderator effect was tested using a structural equation modeling design. In both groups, risk perception was the strongest predictor of condom use. Among African American women, social-cognitive barriers (e.g. low self-efficacy beliefs, negative attitude towards condom use) worked as a second predictor and mediator of the effects of risk perception on condom use. In contrast, among European American women, social-cognitive factors had no effect on condom use. In general, prediction of safer sex behavior was stronger among African American women.
Becker, M. H. (Ed.). (1974). The health belief model and personal health behavior. Health Education Monographs, 2, 324–473.
2.
Bryan, A. D., Aiken, L. S. & West, S. G. (1996). Increasing condom use: Evaluation of a thoery-based intervention to prevent sexually transmitted diseases in young women. Health Psychology, 15, 271–382.
3.
Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. R. (1998). On the self-regulation of behavior. New York: Cambridge University Press.
4.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2000). HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report. U.S. HIV and AIDS cases reported through June 2000. Midyear edition, vol. 12, no. 1.
5.
Cochran, S. D., & Mays, V. M. (1993). Applying social psychological models to predicting HIV-related sexual risk behaviors among African Americans. Journal of Black Psychology, 19, 142–153.
6.
Des Jarlais, D. C., & Friedman, S. R. (1988). The psychology of preventing AIDS among intravenous drug users. American Psychologist, 43, 865–870.
7.
DiClemente, R. J. & Wingood, G. M. (1995). A randomized controlled trial of an HIV sexual risk-reduction intervention for young African-American women. Journal of the American Medical Association, 274, 1271–1276.
8.
Dunahoo, C. L., Hobfoll, S. E., Monnier, J., Hulsizer, M. R., & Johnson, R. (1998). Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto: There's more than rugged individualism in coping. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 11, 137–165.
9.
Fisher, J. D., & Fisher, W. A. (1993). A general social psychological model for changing AIDS risk behavior. In J. B. Pryor & G. D. Reeder (Eds.), The social psychology of HIV infection (pp. 127–153). Hilldale, NJ: Erlbaum.
10.
Fisher, J. D., & Fisher, W. A. (1996). The information-motivation-behavioral skills model of AIDS risk behavior change: Empirical support and application. In S. Oskamp & S. C. Thompson (Eds.), Understanding and preventing HIV risk behavior. Safer sex and drug use (pp. 100–127). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
11.
Hobfoll, S. E., Dunahoo, C. L., Ben-Porath, Y., & Monnier, J. (1994). Gender and coping: The dualaxis model of coping. American Journal of Community Psychology, 22, 49–82.
12.
Hobfoll, S. E., Jackson, A. P., Lavin, J., Britton, P. J., & Shepherd, J. B. (1993). Safer sex knowledge, behavior, and attitudes of inner-city women. Health Psychology, 12, 481–488.
13.
Hobfoll, S. E., Jackson, A. P., Lavin, J., Britton, P. J., & Shepherd, J. B. (1994). Women's barriers to safer sex. Psychology and Health, 9, 233–252.
14.
Ickovics, J. R., & Rodin, J. (1992). Women and AIDS in the United States: Epidemiology, natural history, and mediating mechanisms. Health Psychology, 11, 1–16.
15.
Jemmott, J. B., Jemmott, L. S., Spears, H., Hewitt, N., & Cruz-Collins. (1992). Self-efficacy, hedonistic expectancies, and condom-use intentions among inner-city Black adolescent women: A social cognitive approach to AIDS risk behavior. Journal of Adolescent Health, 13, 512–519.
16.
Jöreskog, K. G., & Sörbom, D. (1996a). LISREL8: User's reference guide. Chicago: Scientific Software International.
17.
Jöreskog, K. G., & Sörbom, D. (1996b). PRELIS2: User's reference guide. Chicago: Scientific Software International.
18.
Kalichman, S. C., Russell, R. L., Hunter, T. L., & Swarzer, D. B. (1993). Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson's HIV serostatus disclosure: Effects on men's perceptions of AIDS. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 61, 887–891.
19.
Kelly, J. A., St. Lawrence, J. S., Hood, H. V., & Brasfield, T. L. (1989). Behavioral intervention to reduce AIDS risk activities. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 57, 60–67.
20.
Kelly, J. A., Murphy, D. A., Washington, c. D., Wilson, T. S., Koob, J. J., Davis, D. R., Ledezma, G., & Davantes, B. (1994). The effects of HIV/AIDS intervention groups for high-risk women in urban clinics. American Journal of Public Health, 84, 1918–1992.
21.
Kazdin, A. (1992). Research design in clinical psychology. New York: Oxford University Press.
22.
Mays, V. M., & Cochran, S. D. (1995). HIV/AIDS in the African-American Community: Changing concerns, changing behaviors. In M. Stein & A. Baum (Eds.), Chronic diseases (pp. 259–272). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
23.
Nyamathi, A., Bennett, C., Leake, B., Lewis, C., & Flaskerud, J. (1993). AIDS-related knowledge, perceptions, and behaviors among impoverished minority women. American Journal of Public Health, 83, 65–71.
24.
Nyamathi, A., Stein, J. A., & Brecht, M.-L. (1995). Psychosocial predictors of AIDS risk behavior and drug use behavior in homeless and drug addicted women of color. Health Psychology, 14, 265–273.
25.
Pearlin, L. I., Menaghan, E. G., Lieberman, M. A., & Mullan, J. T. (1981). The stress process. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 22, 337–356.
26.
Rapkin, A., & Erickson, P. (1990). Differences in knowledge of and risk factors for AIDS between Hispanic and non-Hispanic women attending an urban family planning clinic. AIDS, 4, 889–899.
27.
Rosenstock, I. M., Strecher, V. J., & Becker, M. H. (1988). Social learning theory and the Health Belief Model. Health Education Quarterly, 15, 175–183.
28.
Schwarzer, R., & Fuchs, R. (1996). Self-efficacy and health behaviours. In M. Conner & P. Norman (Eds.), Predicting health behaviour. Research and practice with social cognition models (pp. 163–196). Buckingham: Open University Press.
29.
Sikkema, K. J., Heckman, T. G., Kelly, J. A., Anderson, E. S., Winett, R. A., Solomon, L. J., Wagstaff, D. A., Roffman, R. A., Perry, M. J., Cargill, V., Crumble, D. A., Fugua, R. W., Norman, A. D., & Mercer, M. B. (1996). HIV risk behaviors among women living in low-income, inner-city housing developments. American Journal of Public Health, 86, 1123–1128.
30.
Steers, W. N., Elliott, E., Nemiro, J., Ditman, D., & Oskamp, S. (1996). Health beliefs as predictors of HIV-preventive behavior and ethnic differences in prediction. Journal of Social Psychology, 136, 99–110.
31.
Steptoe, A., Wardle, J., Pollard, T. M., Canaan, L., & Davies, G. J. (1996). Stress, social support and health-related behavior: A study of smoking, alcohol consumption and physical exercise. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 41, 171–180.
32.
US Public Health Service. (1988). Report of the second public health service AIDS prevention and control conference. Public Health Reports, 103(Suppl. 1).
33.
Weidner, G., Boughal, T., Connor, S. L., Pieper, C., & Mendell, N. R. (1997). Relationship of job strain to standard coronary risk factors and psychological characteristics in women and men of the family heart study. Health Psychology, 16, 239–247.
34.
Weinstein, N. D. (1988). The precaution adoption process. Health Psychology, 7, 355–386.
