HIV/AIDS Knowledge, Attitudes, and Sexual Behavior among Adolescents in Seoul

서울시 중.고등학생의 에이즈 지식, 태도 및 성행동

  • Sohn, Ae-Ree (Division of Health Management, Sahmyook University) ;
  • Moon, Jeong-Seon (Korean Institute for HIV/AIDS Prevention, Sahmyook University)
  • 손애리 (삼육대학교 보건관리학) ;
  • 문정선 (삼육대학교부설 에이즈예방연구소)
  • Published : 2009.06.30

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes (discrimination towards HIV/AIDS and lives with HIV infected persons) and HIV/AIDS related sexual behaviors among middle school and high school students in Seoul, Korea. Methods: The population of this study was junior and senior high school students in Seoul, Korea. Eight junior high schools and eight senior high schools were randomly selected from Seoul City. Two thousand nine hundred and ninety-six responses from the sixteen schools were analyzed (fifty-nine were excluded). A self-administered questionnaire measuring socio-demographic variables, knowledge of HIV/AIDS, as well as discriminatory attitudes of HIV/AIDS was utilized. Results: The level of HIV/AIDS knowledge was low and the levels of discriminatory attitudes were high. The results indicated that students had considerable misconceptions about HIV transmission as well as stigmatizing attitudes towards HIV-infected people and their lives. The proportions of sexual intercourse were 1.3 % for middle school students and 7.7% for high school students. Only 30.7% of current sexually active subjects were to use condoms at the last step of sexual intercourse. The HIV/AIDS related risk-taking behavior were predicted by gender, school types, parents' marital status, reported academic performances, and attitudes towards to homosexuals. Conclusions: It is important to design HIV prevention strategies that improve in the knowledge of HIV transmission for adolescents in Korea.

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