Credibility of information from official sources on HIV/AIDS transmission.

OBJECTIVE: The authors analyzed data from the 1991 National Planning Survey to (a) assess respondents' awareness of three official sources of information about HIV/AIDS (CDC, the Surgeon General, and state health departments); (b) assess respondents' perceptions of the reliability of these sources; and (c) compare respondents' personal beliefs about HIV transmission with their beliefs regarding the experts' view. METHODS: The authors conducted a secondary analysis of the responses of the 1622 survey participants who gave complete information. RESULTS: People with more years of formal education were more likely to have heard of the CDC and the Surgeon General. The CDC was given the highest overall reliability rating, followed by the Surgeon General and then state health departments. Transmission of HIV/AIDS by various modes of casual contact was perceived more likely among those who gave the CDC lower reliability ratings. However, regardless of their perceptions of the reliability of the CDC as a source of HIV/AIDS information, many respondents believed the probability of transmission by casual contact more likely than they believed experts said it was. CONCLUSIONS: The discrepancy found between what people believe about health risks and what they think experts believe has important implications for the design of effective health information campaigns and for the design of questionnaire items that aim to assess people's "knowledge" and "attitudes" regarding sensitive health topics.

Predictors of safer sex on the college campus: a social cognitive theory analysis.

In April and May 1989, the authors surveyed a sample of students enrolled on four college campuses in New Jersey (N = 923) concerning their HIV transmission-related behavior, knowledge, and a variety of conceptual variables taken primarily from social cognitive theory that were thought to be potentially predictive of safer sexual behavior. Analyses of sexually active, unmarried students' responses indicated that men expected more negative outcomes of condom use and were more likely to have sexual intercourse while under the influence of alcohol or other drugs, whereas women reported higher perceived self-efficacy to practice safer sex. Regression analyses indicated that, among the factors assessed, stronger perceptions of self-efficacy to engage in safer behavior, expecting fewer negative outcomes of condom use, and less frequency of sex in conjunction with alcohol or other drug use significantly predicted safer sexual behavior. Enhanced self-efficacy to discuss personal history with a new partner was associated with a greater number of risky encounters. Implications of these findings for intervention efforts with students are discussed.

PIP: In 1989, researchers analyzed data on 923 single students at 4 universities in New Jersey to examine the utility of variables from social cognitive theory in predicting safer sexual practices among the students. Negative expected outcomes of condom use included fear of offending the partner and sex with condoms is unpleasant. Low perception of ability to perform safer sexual behaviors and negative expected outcomes of condom use were significantly associated with not using condoms during sexual intercourse (p.01 and p.05, respectively). Women had higher perceived self-efficacy for practicing safer sex and for sexual history taking than did men (p.05). Other factors which were significantly related to risky sexual behavior included having sexual intercourse while under the influence of alcohol or drugs (p.001). In fact, men were more apt to partake in risky sexual behaviors under the influence than did women (p.05). They were also more likely to expect negative outcomes of condom use than women (p.01). Self-efficacy of discussing a partner's sexual history was also associated with risk sexual practices (p.001) perhaps because they believed the partners' self-reports of safe sex history thus assuming that they were protected against the likelihood of becoming infected with HIV. This finding disturbed the researchers because young people do not always reveal all relevant information to a new partner and more and more people who are not in the traditional high risk groups are infected with HIV. Older students were more likely to not use condoms during sexual intercourse than were younger students (p.05). In addition, blacks practiced safer sex than did other groups (p.1). These results demonstrated the need for health educators to develop multifaceted approaches to AIDS prevention including skill and self-efficacy building, enhancing perceptions of risk, and promoting positive social norms.