This five year longitudinal study will provide an empirical basis for designing AIDS education programs for young children that effectively prevent risky behaviors and modify misconceptions about AIDS. The study seeks to describe third through eighth grade children's knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and social definitions of AIDS, other illness, drug use, and sexual behavior and to investigate developmental change and sex, race, and socioeconomic differences in these variables. In addition, the project will investigate children's perceptions of their susceptibility to AIDS and the extent to which their attitudes, intentions, and behaviors are determined by perceived risk versus perceived social influences. The investigation will draw on two theoretical frameworks, the Theory of Reasoned Action and the Social Development Model to explain children's intentions and attitudes toward AIDS. Findings will be utilized to develop recommendations for preventive interventions. In the first year the investigators will conduct open-ended interviews with small focus groups of children to collect qualitative information about their understanding of AIDS, illness, drug use and sexuality. This information is needed to design appropriate questions for more structured interviews. In the second year, 300 children at each of four grade levels (3rd-6th) will be individually interviewed, and in the third and fourth years, these same children will be interviewed again. Data analyses and recommendations for AIDS prevention programming will be completed in the final project year. This design allows examination of developmental changes across an important period from childhood to early adolescence during which major shift are expected in children's views regarding AIDS and AIDS-related behaviors and in the factors influencing those views. The research team provides experience in research on drug use, sexuality and contraception, and AIDS, and team members have designed, implemented and analyzed data from a longitudinal study of children in the relevant age group.
| Beadnell, Blair; Morrison, Diane M; Wilsdon, Anthony et al. (2005) Condom use, frequency of sex, and number of partners: multidimensional characterization of adolescent sexual risk-taking. J Sex Res 42:192-202 |
