HIV prevention for youths in foster care: Understanding future orientation and intended risk behaviors

Youths in foster care face challenges, including making healthy behavioral choices. Empirical data from a sample show how intentions to engage in HIV-risk behaviors vary among youths in foster care. Youths who hold safer attitudes about prevention and those who have fewer peers with behavioral problems more often intend safer behavior. Among young women, a stronger orientation toward the future is associated with fewer behavioral intentions that involve HIV risk. Youths in foster care who are in higher grades, express greater self-efficacy, or have fewer problems with mental health or substance abuse express a stronger and more hopeful orientation toward the future. These research results support the application of integrated health behavior theory among youths in foster care, showing that preventive attitudes, well-behaved peers, and a stronger orientation toward the future are associated with fewer behavioral intentions that precede HIV risk.