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Abstract AIDS is a serious health threat for many adolescents because they constitute the fastest growing population for new infections. This threat requires that intensive prevention programmes be initiated and maintained. And yet current prevention efforts are narrowly focused and do not: always address the specific contextual needs for adolescents. In the field of adolescent AIDS research, three basic theoretical models have been applied within mainstream psychology: the health belief model (Becker, 1974; Janz & Becker, 1984); the theory of reasoned action (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1970; 1980); and self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1977). The goal of this paper is to examine the efficacy of applying prospect theory to adolescent AIDS prevention, in an attempt to incorporate some of these situational factors into intervention efforts. This paper will: fl) outline existing health models that have been applied to HIV prevention; (2) describe prospect theory as an alternative decision-making model explaining adolescent risk behaviour; and (3) examine implications of prospect theory for designing intervention and treatment programmes for adolescents.
AIDS is now the leading cause of death for individuals aged 25-44 (CDC Centers for Disease Control, 1996a). It has been estimated that over 25% of new HIV infections occur in youth between the ages of 12-21 (CDC, 1996b). Thus, AIDS is a serious health threat for adolescents, which requires that intensive prevention programmes be initiated and maintained (Kipke et al., 1989; Rotheram-Borus et al., 1991). And yet current prevention efforts are narrowly focused and do not always address the specific contextual needs of adolescents. Flora and Thoresen (1988) state that most AIDS intervention curricula are not theoretically well grounded. They argue that most programmes fail to adequately recognize the myriad sources driving sexual and drug risk behaviour and the different levels of intervention and analysis that are important to incorporate into effective intervent;ions. This paper provides a theoretical model for incorporating these situational variables into adolescent AIDS prevention programmes.
In the field of adolescent AIDS research, three basic theoretical models have been applied: the health belief model (Becker, 1974; Janz & Becker, 1984); the theory of reasoned action (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1970, 1980); and self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1977). These models emphasize that an individual's belie:Es and perceptions influence how decisions are made. These three theoretical models...