Beliefs about the spread of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome

Beliefs about the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus were determined among a community sample (n = 178:98 women; 80 men) of Australians. In order to reduce the statements to manageable clusters, a principal components analysis was computed which was followed by Varimax rotation for eigenvalues that were greater than unity. Five interpretable factors were extracted which dealt with statements that referred to social contact, chance 1, heterosexual activity, biological matters and chance 2. Three-way (sex x age x education) analyses of variance were computed on the total factor scores. No sex differences were found, although age and educational level appeared to have some influence on beliefs. The findings are discussed in the light of the recent television advertising campaign about the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.