Interpersonal perception of the AIDS risk potential of persons of the opposite sex.

Individuals engage in high rates of AIDS risk behavior, despite awareness that infection is preventable, and use biased decision rules for determining the AIDS risk potential of their own and others' behavior. In this laboratory study, 32 male and 32 female university students made judgments of the AIDS risk potential of persons of the opposite sex following exposure to explicit information regarding AIDS-related attitudes and behavior in a discussion group. A social relations analysis showed that judgments of AIDS risk potential were determined by perceiver-based assimilation that was stronger than target-based consensus for both men and women. Further, perceptions of others were related to self-perception. However, the consensus that was observed showed moderate accuracy. Implications for AIDS prevention are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Information-motivation-behavioral skills model-based HIV risk behavior change intervention for inner-city high school youth.

This study assessed the effects of 3 theoretically grounded, school-based HIV prevention interventions on inner-city minority high school students' levels of HIV prevention information, motivation, behavioral skills, and behavior. It involved a quasi-experimental controlled trial comparing classroom-based, peer-based, and combined classroom- and peer-based-HIV prevention interventions with a standard-of-care control condition in 4 urban high schools (N=1,532, primarily 9th-grade students). At 12 months postintervention, the classroom-based intervention resulted in sustained changes in HIV prevention behavior. This article discusses why both of the interventions involving peers were less effective than the classroom-based intervention at the 12-month follow-up and, more generally, suggests a set of possible limiting conditions for the efficacy of peer-based interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A diffusion coefficient model for polymer devolatilization

Polymer devolatilizers are in widespread use in the polymer industry for removing solvents and monomers from polymer melts prior to product fabrication. Design equations for describing the solvent flux usually include both the diffusion coefficient of the solvent in the polymer melt and the equilibrium concentration of the solvent at the polymer-vapor interface. Several models make the as sumption that the solvent diffusivity is constant over the ranges of solvent concentrations and temperatures in the devolatilizer. This is a critical assumption that may be difficult to check without obtaining diffusivity data at the operating temperatures and concentrations of the process equipment. There are three models that can be used for diffusion coefficients in devolatilizer design: the free volume model developed by Duda, Vrentas, and coworkers; a new linear model proposed in this study; and a constant diffusivity model, The linear model is obtained by combining a new correlation for solvent activity coefficients in molten polymers with free volume theory and linearizing the resulting equation. The error between using the complete free volume theory and using the linear model, or alternatively, using a constant diffusion coefficient, is calculated for several solvent-polymer systems. The linear model is convenient to use for determining the effects of the solvent activity coefficient on the diffusion coefficient. A method is presented for determining whether the complete model, the linear model, or the constant diffusivity model is appropriate for a given devolatilizer design.     

Changing AIDS risk behavior: Effects of an intervention emphasizing AIDS risk reduction information, motivation, and behavioral skills in a college student population.

This research used the Information–Motivation–Behavioral Skills (IMB) model of AIDS risk behavior change (J. D. Fisher & W. A. Fisher, see record 1992-28622-001) to reduce AIDS risk behavior in a college student population. College students received an IMB model-based intervention that addressed AIDS risk reduction information, motivation, and behavioral skills deficits that had been empirically identified in this population, or were assigned to a no-treatment control condition. At a 1-month follow-up, results confirmed that the intervention resulted in increases in AIDS risk reduction information, motivation, and behavioral skills, as well as significant increases in condom accessibility, safer sex negotiations, and condom use during sexual intercourse. At a long-term follow-up, the intervention again resulted in significant increases in AIDS preventive behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Close relationships and elevated HIV risk behavior: Evidence and possible underlying psychological processes.

A review of research on AIDS preventive behavior indicates that minority and nonminority heterosexual adolescents and adults, gay men, injection drug users, and commercial sex workers are all less likely to practice safer sex with close relationship partners, compared with partners they perceive to be "casual" sexual partners. Because many individuals in close relationships have engaged in HIV risk behavior over extended periods of time and are unaware of their actual HIV status, practicing unprotected sexual intercourse with a committed relationship partner who is not tested for HIV appears to be a major and unrecognized source of HIV risk. This article reviews the evidence for higher levels of HIV risk behavior in close relationships and then presents relevant conceptual and empirical work to explore the psychological processes that may underlie risky sexual behavior in close relationships, using as a framework the information-motivation-behavioral skills model of preventive behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)