Since the outset of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, behavioral scientists have stressed that sexual behavior including HIV /STD risk behavior must be studied in its sociocultural context. Though our material objective may be to change behavior in the interest of health promotion, we can accomplish this only indirectly-by influencing people's internal psychological states and resources (e.g., feelings, knowledge and skills) or through identifYing and changing features in the environment and/or context to which people with their states and actions respond.