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Abstract
AIDS has received considerable attention in the media since cases began being reported in the United States in 1981, but little research has been focused on the penetration of educational messages about AIDS in sexually active groups. The purpose of this study was to assess both knowledge of and sources about AIDS in a sample of selected university students. A 20-item forced-choice inventory consisting of cognitive and demographic items and based on fact sheets from the Centers for Disease Control was constructed and distributed in a general education course to 161 university students selected through cluster sampling from a pool of approximately 500 potential respondents. Overall, knowledge of key AIDS-related facts was high. However, 37.3% of the sample was unclear about AIDS' lethal potential, 35.4% did not recognize AIDS-associated opportunistic diseases, and 31.7% did not relate risk of contracting AIDS with indiscriminant sexual behavior. The three leading reported sources of AIDS information were television, newspapers, and magazines, respectively, and no respondent cited “physicians” as the major source. Though media attention given to AIDS abounds, certain misconceptions still are held by some young adults.