HIV Prevention Attitude Scales for Teenagers (Torabi & Yarber, 1992)

• Populations: High School Students
• Age ranges: 13-17
• Languages: English
• Countries: United States

Items

This Assessment has multiple forms.  Items from two are presented below, both taken from (Torabi & Yarber, 2020)

Form A

• I would feel very uncomfortable being around someone with HIV.
• I feel that HIV is a punishment for immoral behavior.
• If I were having sex, it would be insulting if my partner insisted we use a condom.
• I dislike the idea of limiting sex to just one partner to avoid HIV infection.
• I would dislike asking a possible sex partner to get the HIV antibody test.
• It would be dangerous to permit a student with HIV to attend school.
• It is easy to use the prevention methods that reduce one’s chance of getting HIV.
• It is important to talk to a sex partner about HIV prevention before having sex.
• I believe that sharing IV drug needles has nothing to do with HIV.
• HIV education in schools is a waste of time.
• I would be supportive of a person with HIV.
• Even if a sex partner insisted, I would not use a condom.
• I intend to talk about HIV prevention with a partner if we were to have sex.
• I intend not to use drugs so I can avoid HIV.
• I will use condoms when having sex if I’m not sure if my partner has HIV.

Form B

• I am certain that I could be supportive of a friend with HIV.
• I feel that people with HIV got what they deserve.
• I am comfortable with the idea of using condoms for sex.
• I would dislike the idea of limiting sex to just one partner to avoid HIV infection.
• It would be embarrassing to get the HIV antibody test.
• It is meant for some people to get HIV.
• Using condoms to avoid HIV is too much trouble.
• I believe that AIDS is a preventable disease.
• The chance of getting HIV makes using IV drugs stupid.
• People can influence their friends to practice safe behavior.
• I would shake hands with a person having HIV.
• I will avoid sex if there is a slight chance that the partner might have HIV.
• If I were to have sex I would insist that a condom be used.
• If I used IV drugs, I would not share the needles.
• I intend to share HIV facts with my friends.

Responses

Both Forms used a 5 item ordinal scale: Strongly Agree, Agree, Undecided, Disagree, Strongly Disagree.

Scoring

The minimum and maximum possible points for each form are 15 and 75 points, with higher scores indicating more positive attitudes toward HIV and HIV prevention.

Form A:
For Items 7, 8, 11, 13, 15, the scoring is the following: 
strongly agree = 5, agree = 4, undecided = 3, disagree = 2, and strongly disagree = 1. For the remaining items, the scoring is the following: strongly agree = 1, agree = 2, undecided = 3, disagree = 4, and strongly disagree = 5

Form B:
For Items 1, 3, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, the scoring is the following: strongly agree = 5, agree = 4, undecided = 3, disagree = 2, and strongly disagree = 1. For the remaining items, the scoring is the following: strongly agree = 1, agree = 2, undecided = 3, disagree = 4, and strongly disagree = 5

Citations

Torabi, M. R., & Yarber, W. L. (1992). Alternate forms of the HIV prevention attitude scales for teenagers. AIDS Education and Prevention, 4, 172–182.

Torabi, M. R., & Yarber, W. L. (2020). Alternate forms of the HIV prevention attitude scales for teenagers. In R. R. Milhausen, J. K. Sakaluk, T. D. Fischer, C. M. Davis, W. L. Yarber (Eds.), Handbook of sexuality-related measures, 4th edition (399-402). Routledge.