Psychosocial correlates of hiv-related sexual behavior in an inner city std clinic

Abstract

Inner city African Americans suffer a disproportionate share of sexually transmitted disease (STD), including HIV infection. For effective interventions to be planned, variables critical to sexual behavior in this population must be identified. This study introduced and tested a self-report measure of sexual impulse control for its relevance to the risky sexual practices of 83 inner city men and women from three New Jersey public STD clinics. Social cognitive factors, largely derived from Bandura's social cognitive theory (SCT), were also assessed for their influence upon risky inner city sexual practices. Results indicated that difficulty controlling sexual impulse was the variable most strongly linked with unprotected sexual intercourse among the entire sample. However, self-efficacy to negotiate condom use played a significant role in women's sexual behavior but not in men's. Among female STD patients, higher self efficacy to negotiate condom use was linked with less unprotected intercourse.