Understanding AIDS Risk Behavior Among Sexually Active Urban Adolescents: An Empirical Test of the Information–Motivation–Behavioral Skills Model

The current research applied the information-motivation-behavioral skills (IMB) model to examine psychological determinants of AIDS risk behavior in a sample of sexually active, primarily minority, urban adolescents (N = 148) drawn from an area of high adolescent HIV seroprevalence. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that the IMB model fit the data and that the constructs of the model accounted for 46–75% of the variance in AIDS risk behavior among sexually active urban male and female adolescents. Structural equation modeling also examined the fit of a restricted special case of the IMB model, focusing on motivation and behavioral skills as determinants of AIDS risk behavior, and showed that this model fit the data as well. Discussion focuses on the generality of the IMB model of AIDS risk behavior across diverse populations at risk, on the comparative value of the full IMB model and the restricted special case of this model, and on the implications of these findings for interventions to reduce AIDS risk behavior among sexually active urban adolescents.

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