SOCIAL SUPPORT AS A FACTOR IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN ADOLESCENTS SEXUAL RISK BEHAVIOR

African-American adolescents (N = 295) reporting high or low levels of social support completed measures of AIDS knowledge, health locus of control attitudes toward condoms, self-reported sexual behavior for th e preceding 12 months perceptions of personal HIV risk, and self- and resonse-efficacy ratings. Adolescents with less social support were le ss knowledgeable about AIDS, held more negative attitudes toward condo ms, and were lower in self efficacy than adolescents with higher level s of social support. Adolescents with fewer social supports also were significantly more likely to engage in casual sex, reported more nonmo nogomous partners, more frequent coercions into unwanted sexual activi ty and higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases African-American males with low social support scores engaged in more frequent unprotec ted sexual activity with a larger number of sex partners and used cond oms less often. The implications of these result for prevention effort s targeting minority adolescents are discussed.