# TEACHING YOUTH SOCIAL SKILLS--AN AIDS PREVENTION TRIAL

> **NIH NIH R01** · SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY · 1993 · $215,314

## Abstract

This study will test behavioral programs designed to reduce
adolescents' "unsafe" sexual behavior.  Behavioral rehearsal
procedures that emphasize social skills and decision-making will
be compared to didactic sex education and a "no-training" control.
We believe the social skills training will be more effective for
teaching skills to resist peer pressure for "unsafe" sexual behavior
and, thereby, reduce the consequent risks of AIDS and other
sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).  This analysis also will
assess the extent to which trained youth influence their friends
knowledge and social skills, as an estimate of the "diffusion" of
effects on peer pressure/support of responsible sexual
development.  A Public Health model will be demonstrated by
training youth recruited from community medical clinics.  A
randomized clinical trail (stratified for Hispanic, Anglo, and
gender) design will be used.  Three hundred youth from 14-16 yrs.
and two friends (600 additional youth, nested within the primary
sample) will be divided into three groups:  one experimental, one
usual-training control and one no-training control.  Youth assigned
to the experimental group will receive 8 weeks of training.  A
professional instructor and a specially trained peer assistant will
use behavioral rehearsal techniques, including video models, role-
playing and corrective feedback, to establish target social and
decision-making skills.  Youth will be taught how to say "no"
(abstain from sex), how to request a partner to use a condom, how
to select safe sexual partners, etc.  The immediate and long term
consequences of their social/sexual behavior will be reviewed to
establish establish decision-making skills.  Usual training controls
will be taught only the biological processes of reproduction and
the natural history of STDs and explained the most important risk
factors involved; no-training controls will receive only the
scheduled measures.  They will not be taught specific social skills,
nor will behavioral rehearsal be employed.  The differential
effects of training will be measured for the primary sample of 300
youth and 600 friends.  Measures of knowledge, affective
reactions and social skills will be obtained immediately prior to
instruction, post instruction, at 3, 6, 12 and 18 months.
Knowledge, affective reactions and sexual experience (e.g.
intercourse) will be measured in private one-to-one interviews.
Social skills will be measured by direct observation of role-played
tests.  These techniques may provide youth with the skills to avoid
AIDS infection, and other STDS.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 2199364
- **Project number:** 5R01HD025021-05
- **Recipient organization:** SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY
- **SAM.gov UEI:** H59JKGFZKHL7
- **Principal Investigator:** Melbourne F Hovell
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1993
- **Award amount:** $215,314
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1988-09-01 → 1994-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/2199364

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 2199364, TEACHING YOUTH SOCIAL SKILLS--AN AIDS PREVENTION TRIAL (5R01HD025021-05). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/2199364. Licensed CC0.

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