Assessing College Students' Attitudes, Knowledge and Behavior Towards HIV/AIDS

The purpose of this ongoing study was to assess attitudes, knowledge and behaviors in college students toward Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). The researchers wanted to asses students' knowledge, attitudes, and behavior for utilization in educational and skill building programs for college students. Assessment of attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors was obtained from a sample of 53 males and 121 female college students in health wellness classes. An 81-item survey, constructed for the study, was administered during the first part of the semester. Results included the following: (1) 88.6 percent reported belief that the disease was going to spread rapidly in the heterosexual population; (2) 41 percent were too embarrassed to discuss the use of condoms with their partner; (3) 87 percent believed those who with HIV/AIDS do not deserve it; (4) individuals who were most denying about HIV/AIDS were also most punishing towards infected individuals; (5) subjects reporting the most concern reported the least embarrassment; (6) among males there was a significant positive correlation between being concerned and being more punishing; (7) for males also, the more embarrassed they were, the more concerned they were; and (8) males were more concerned than females about contracting HIV/AIDS. Contains 15 references and the survey instrument. (JB)