This meta-analysis (N = 110,092) assessed the efficacy of HIV-prevention interventions across samples with higher and lower concentrations of Latinos/Latin Americans. Findings indicated that groups with higher percents of Latinos increased condom and HIV-related knowledge to a lesser extent than groups with lower percents of Latinos/ Latin Americans. Moreover, groups with

Based on a survey conducted among 198 Latinos in Central Illinois, USA, this study shows that income, education, and language skills were important predictors of condom use. In addition, hostile and benevolent sexist ideas had a differing impact on condom use. Hostile sexist ideas, such as the belief that women try to control men, increased condom use with both main and occasional partners. Benevolent sexism, for example, the idea that women should be cherished and protected, was negatively and significantly correlated with condom use with main partner. In this sense, benevolent sexism, an apparently less harmful type of prejudice against women, seems to out them at higher risk of HIV/AIDS infection. Therefore, HIV/AIDS prevention interventions designed for Latinos should not only address the dangers of hostile sexist beliefs in reproducing negative feelings about women but also the problems associated with benevolent sexist beliefs, which seem to decrease condom use.

Aspects of Latino culture (e.g., machismo, marianism) can act as barriers to enrollment in HIV-prevention programs. To lift these barriers, a culturally appropriate meta-intervention was designed to increase intentions to enroll in HIV-prevention counseling by Latinos. Latino participants (N = 41) were recruited from the community and randomly assigned to either an experimental or control meta-intervention condition that varied the introduction to a HIV-prevention counseling program. Following the meta-intervention, participants were issued an invitation to take part in HIV-prevention counseling. The outcome measure was the intention to enroll in a HIV-prevention counseling session. Findings indicated that enrollment intentions were higher in the experimental meta-intervention condition (96%) than in the control meta-intervention condition (53%). In addition, the effects of the meta-intervention were comparable across genders and participant ages. Findings suggest that the use of a culturally appropriate meta-intervention may be an effective strategy for increasing Latino enrollment in HIV-prevention programs. These promising findings warrant further investigation into the efficacy and effectiveness of this meta-intervention.

Trust in government is essential to democratic practice. This article analyzed the factors shaping trust in the federal government using a survey of 260 Mexican immigrants living in rural Illinois and in-depth interviews with 32 participants. To analyze these data, we drew a distinction between support for the regime (system of government that is relatively stable in a political system) and support for authorities (those who temporarily occupy positions of power) to test whether regime or authorities' considerations shaped respondents' political trust. The results showed that both considerations influenced trust in the federal government. We also found that a perception of current leaders as being concerned with issues affecting Latinos and an increased optimism about the economic situation were key determinants in explaining trust in the federal government. Further, our in-depth interviews showed that respondents thought about economic issues, immigration, and overall assessments of the Obama administration when determining their level of trust in the federal government.

People who feel comfortable defending their views—defensively confident—may also eventually change those views and corresponding behaviors. National Election Studies surveys showed that defensive confidence predicted defection in the 2006 U.S. House elections, above and beyond the impact of various demographic and political variables. Moreover, defensive confidence was also associated with political knowledge and attention to politics and government affairs, but not attention to the news. Finally, males, more educated citizens, ethnic minorities, and older respondents had higher reported defensive confidence than did females, less educated citizens, European Americans, and younger respondents. Defensive confidence may be a crucial factor for a deeper understanding of political behavior.