Self-efficacy, hedonistic expectancies, and condom-use intentions among inner-city black adolescent women: a social cognitive approach to AIDS risk behavior.

The effects on condom-use intentions of an acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) prevention intervention based on social cognitive theory were investigated among 19 sexually active black adolescent women recruited from an inner-city family planning clinic. The women received the social cognitive intervention designed to increase perceived self-efficacy and favorable outcome expectancies about the hedonistic consequences of using condoms or one of two control interventions: An information-alone intervention designed to increase AIDS knowledge or a general health-promotion intervention designed to provide information about important health problems other than AIDS. All interventions lasted 105 min and involved films and small-group exercises. Participants' evaluations did not differ among conditions. As hypothesized, analysis of covariance indicated that participants in the social cognitive condition reported greater intentions to use condoms than did those in the two control conditions. In addition, participants in the social cognitive condition scored higher in perceived self-efficacy and favorable hedonistic expectancies--the two hypothesized mediators of the intervention effect. Although participants who received the information-alone intervention subsequently had greater AIDS knowledge than did those in the health promotion condition, they did not express greater intentions to use condoms. These results highlight the value of a social cognitive approach to AIDS risk behavior: outcome expectancies regarding the effects of precautionary practices on sexual enjoyment and perceived self-efficacy to implement such practices play an important role in decisions about condom use.