Health beliefs and promotion of HIV-preventive intentions among teenagers: A Scottish perspective.

Examined beliefs concerning the spread of the HIV and preventive behaviors in 194 female and 154 male sexually active Scottish teenagers (aged 16–18 yrs). A postal questionnaire, including measures of variables specified by the health belief model (HBM) and preventive intentions, was employed. Analyses showed that measures of health beliefs, gender, age, sexual experience, and previous condom use accounted for 17.8–24.3% of the variance in reported preventive intentions. Perceived barriers to preventive behaviors were found to be important predictors. However, results raised questions concerning the adequacy of the HBM model to determine HIV-preventive intentions.