Southern College Freshman Students: A Survey of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs About AIDS

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Abstract
This study assessed levels of knowledge, attitudes, and perceived susceptibility to AIDS among freshman college students attending a university in the southeastern United States. Two hundred and twenty-six students completed a modified version of the DiClemente AIDS knowledge, Attitudes, and Perceived Susceptibility to AIDS Instrument. A comparison of the findings with data collected earlier in two similar studies shows that adolescents today are generally more knowledgeable about AIDS than they were in the past. There were no differences in AIDS knowledge between those students who had received AIDS education in high school (38%) and those who had not (62%). In spite of increases in knowledge, however, over half (54.7%) of the subjects believed that they were less likely than most people to get AIDS.