The Belgrade high-school students and AIDS

What does the »AIDS generation« know about the AIDS epidemic, what kind of sexual behaviour they conduct, do they provoke risk, do they feel endangered, what is their attitude towards the diseased and HIV-infected persons? These are some of the questions for which we have searched the answers among the high-school Belgrade population in our research which was carried out in 1997. This research has shown that the knowledge of AIDS among the high-school students is average, yet a little worse than among their counterparts in the other five cities under investigation of central and eastern Europe. In spite of the average knowledge, the young retain very risky behaviour, the most distressing fact. Many young declare themselves ready and willing to take precautions, but in their sexual practice they do not follow the measures. Reprinted by permission of the Yugoslav Sociological Association