"At risk" women who think that they have no chance of getting HIV: self-assessed perceived risks.

During the past two decades, a fair amount of inconclusive research has been conducted to examine the relationship between perceived risk of contracting HIV and actual HIV risk behavior practices. The present study examines HIV risk perceptions among a sample of 250 urban, economically-disadvantaged, primarily minority women. In particular, we focus on differences between those saying that they have no chance whatsoever of contracting HIV and those who indicated at least some possibility of becoming HIV-infected. Three research questions are addressed: (1) Are there differences between these groups attributable to their risk behavior practices? (2) To what extent do women who think that they are not at risk for HIV engage in risky behaviors that could expose them to HIV? (3) What are the most salient predictors of the women's perceived risk classification? Results showed that women perceiving themselves to have at least some HIV risk engaged in higher rates of risky behaviors than their counterparts who perceived themselves to have no possibility of contracting HIV. Despite this finding, more than one-half of the "no perceived risk of HIV" sample had engaged in at least one risky practice during the preceding year and more than one-quarter had engaged in at least two such behaviors. Age, childhood maltreatment experiences, self-esteem, number of HIV risk behaviors practiced, amount of illegal drug use reported, and number of times having sex were significant predictors of women's perception of having some HIV risk versus having no HIV risk.