title: I can use a condom, i just don't: the importance of motivation to prevent HIV in adolescent seeking psychiatric care.
abstract: Youth continue to show high HIV infection rates, and adolescents with mental health problems are especially at risk. We used longitudinal data to test a cognitive-behavioral model of risky sexual behavior among 175, ethnically diverse urban adolescents seeking mental health services. Path analyses of the cross-sectional data revealed that Motivation was a strong predictor of Behavioral Skills and Sexual Risk Taking. The model explained 42% of the variance in Sexual Risk Taking with age included-29% without age. In the longitudinal path analyses, Motivation had a significant negative effect on levels of Sexual Risk Taking 6 months later, controlling for Information, Behavioral Skills, age, and baseline levels of Sexual Risk Taking. These longitudinal effects explained 60% of the variance in Sexual Risk Taking. These results underscore the need to address motivational factors in HIV prevention programs designed for adolescents with mental health problems.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Juvenile Research, University of Illinois at Chicago, 60608, USA. bmustanski@psych.uic.edu
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mustanski
authors.forename: Geri
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Donenberg
authors.forename: Erin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Emerson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D017280:Condoms / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D028642:Persons with Psychiatric Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D012307:Risk Factors; D012309:Risk-Taking; D021841:Safe Sex / Q000706:statistics & numerical data