Can Intentions to Use Condoms Predict Condom Use among High-Risk, Multicultural Youth in a Miami Alternative School?

To date, 18,540 cases of AIDS have been diagnosed among youth 13–24 years old in the United States, and an additional 65,071 cases have been reported in the 25–29 year-old age group, indicating possible HIV infection during adolescence (CDC, 1994). Markers of HIV risk such as gonorrhea rates also indicate that U.S. teens are at risk of contracting HIV; the incidence rate of gonorrhea among 15–19 year olds is four times higher than the U.S. national rate, and adolescent females have the highest gonorrhea rate of any population segment (DSTD/HIVP, 1994). It is estimated that one quarter of the individuals with AIDS who were exposed by heterosexual contact were infected during adolescence (Lindegren, et al., 1994).