A preliminary study of social issues in AIDS prevention among adolescents

Educational efforts to prevent the spread of AIDS require a combination of accurate information and the application of that information to personal behavior. In this preliminary study, a scale was developed to evaluate the social and interpersonal skills of adolescents in AIDS-related and non-AIDS-related interactions. The instrument was administered to 101 Australian students in grades 10 and 11 of an urban high school. Findings indicate ratings of AIDS-related activities of the adolescents were not significantly different from their other social activities, suggesting levels of comfort and assertiveness among adolescents in AIDS-related activities can be modified. Students felt most anxious about problems with sexually transmitted diseases or drug use, suggesting difficulty in dealing with the possible public disclosure of these stigmatized conditions. Data suggest both individual and group scores among adolescents may improve on the five dimensions of the scale following interventions to promote social and interpersonal skills designed to apply knowledge obtained from AIDS education.