Racial targeting of AIDS programs reconsidered

Most health professionals understand the importance of targeting behaviors, not groups, for disease prevention. Yet with regard to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) education programming, target groups have been defined by salient demographic traits, including race, in part due to incomplete knowledge about risk behaviors in various groups. As a result, community and school-based education programs have suffered some mistrust and resentment. This article reports the findings of original research on attitude and behavioral differences between and within racial groups for a college student sample, in response to AIDS education programming. Differences in baseline attitudes and behaviors showed that AIDS-related risk cannot be primarily associated with minority group status. Implications on refinement of targeting strategies are discussed.