Ethnic Breakdown of AIDS Related Knowledge and Attitudes from the National Adolescent Student Health Survey

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Abstract
Analysis of the National Adolescent Student Health Survey AIDS related data by ethnic background illustrates significant differences between ethnicities, as well as overall patterns of students' knowledge about AIDS prevention and risks, and their attitudes about their own, and their peers' sexuality. This nationally representative sample of eighth and tenth grade youth reveals high knowledge levels for basic issues such as associating the risk of HIV education with sexual intercourse, sexual promiscuity, gay sex, and needle sharing. Most also know about use of condoms and abstinence in preventing the spread of HIV. Students of all ethnicities were less than satisfactorily clear, however, about the risk associated with donating blood, and there was some ambiguity surrounding the efficacy of washing and going to the bathroom after sex. Students of all ethnicities also feel that it is all right personally for them to say no to sex and to use condoms, but see their friends as much less likely (by up to 30 percent) to feel the same way. Analysis also shows that less than 50 percent of these students received AIDS education in school since the seventh grade. Thus, to improve these levels of knowledge, increased efforts to present AIDS education messages - both in and out of schools - is necessary.

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