HIV testing, perceptions of AIDS risk, and condom use motivation among US women

As STD infections including HIV increase in the United States, it has becom e increasingly important to policy makers to ascertain the extent to which knowledge and perceptions of AIDS risk affect an individual's probability o f altering their sexual or contraceptive behavior to avoid infection. This paper examines the extent to which women's perceptions of their own and the ir partners' risk of HIV infection affects the probability of using a condo m for protection against sexually transmitted diseases. This paper also exa mines the extent to which HIV testing may affect motivation for condom use. Crosstabulations reveal that prophylactic condom use is more prevalent amo ng women who have been tested for HIV and increase as perceptions of their chance (and their partner's chance) of being positive increases. The multiv ariate results from this study indicate that having an HIV test significant ly predicts the likelihood of using a condom for STD prevention for US wome n. Furthermore, women who perceive themselves to be at least somewhat likel y to be HIV positive have a higher probability of using a condom to prevent sexually transmitted disease, and women who perceive their partners to be HIV positive are twice as likely as other women to use a condom for STD pre vention. However, women who consider themselves Likely to be HIV positive a re no more likely to use a condom than those who consider themselves not at risk.