African-Americans\u27 attitudes toward AIDS, fear of AIDS and sexual practices with implications for prevention

This study investigated 120 African-Americans\u27 (AA) attitudes toward AIDS, fear of AIDS, and sexual practices. Participants consisted of 91 female and 29 male students in undergraduate psychology courses at a state university in the middle area of Tennessee. Participants ranged in age from 18 to 25 years old. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire as well as two self-report measures that assessed attitudes toward AIDS and people with AIDS, and fear of contracting AIDS. In analyzing the data, participants were grouped by gender. The results revealed similar percentage of participants who reported that they either used condoms “always” or “sometimes.” Only a small percentage of the participants reported “never” using condoms. Most of the participants reported a fear of AIDS. AA females had a more positive attitude toward AIDS than AA males. AA males had a greater fear of AIDS than AA females. AA females reported a greater use of condoms than AA males, and those who reported non-condom use and multi-sex partners had a greater fear of AIDS. Limitations, implications for counseling, as well as for prevention are discussed