Abstract
With the aim of developing a novel strategy for identifying vulnerability for early sexual activity and adjustment problems, African American girls (n = 39) completed partially structured scenarios in which female characters of similar age faced circumstances characterized by varying levels of risk. Most girls indicated that they believed the characters would have sex, regardless of their own sexual history or the level of risk in the scenario. However, the combination of girls’ sexual history and girls’ predictions of characters’ behavior in the scenario provided more information regarding the girls at greatest risk for adjustment problems. Implicit techniques offer an additional strategy for identifying girls most vulnerable to adjustment difficulties in the context of early sexual activity.
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Acknowledgments
Funding for this project was provided by awards to the second author from the UNC Ethnicity, Culture, and Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program, UNC Center for AIDS Research (#9P30 AI050410), and a Mentored Public Health Research Scientist Development Award from the CDC (5K01PS000795). The authors also wish to acknowledge the UNC Injury Prevention Research Center that provided support for the development of the K01 application and ongoing support to the second author, as well as the second author’s K01 mentors, Drs. Seth Kalichman, Daniel Nagin, and Desmond Runyan. Finally, this study would not be possible without the families who participated in the project, as well as the focus group members who provided feedback on the measure.
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The Health Risk Perceptions Questionnaire is available upon request from the second author.
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Kincaid, C.Y., Jones, D.J., Gonzalez, M. et al. The Role of Implicit Measurement in the Assessment of Risky Behavior: A Pilot Study with African American Girls. J Child Fam Stud 21, 799–806 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-011-9537-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-011-9537-1