Condoms and coitus: adolescents attitudes to AIDS and safe sex behavior

This study investigated the relationship between sexual risk taking and attitudes to AIDS precautions among a sample of approximately 1000 non-virgin adolescents attending 15 colleges and universities in Victoria, Australia. Four attitudinal dimensions were isolated: Antiprecautions, Risk Denial, Abrogation of Responsibility and Fatalism. These attitudes showed meaningful relationships with different types of sexual risk: risk with a casual partner, risk with a regular partner, and multiple partnering. Different patterns of association emerged for males and females, with female risk behavior being more strongly related to antiprecautions attitudes. These differences were discussed in the light of gender-stereotypic responses to sexual situations, and their implications for educational interventions were explored.