Gender differences in goal setting for HIV prevention among college students

The purpose of this study was to identify HIV prevention goals of college students, to determine if there are differences in goal setting between males and females, and to determine if an association exists between goal setting and behavior. The data are from a study designed to identify HIV prevention practices of college students. The results of the study showed that 71.4% of the respondents indicated that they had a goal to reduce their risk of contracting HIV. The primary goals identified were condom use, limiting number of partners, abstinence, and monogamy. Females were more likely to select abstinence as their first goal, and men, condom use. Females were more likely than males to write high specificity and definitely effective goals. Significant associations were also found between HIV prevention goals and sexual behaviors. When males and females stated abstinence as their goal, there was a significant association with reports of never having sex. This association was significant for both sexually experienced males and females when the goal of abstinence was compared with the occasions of sex in the last three months. For males, having a condom use goal was significantly associated with consistent condom use. However, no significant association was found between females’ condom use goals and reported consistency of condom use.