Trends in risk behaviors for HIV infection among U.S. high school students, 1989-1991

The objective of this study was to examine trends in rates of self-reported HIV-related instruction and behaviors among high school students in the United States. Self-administered questionnaires were completed by three independent, multistage national probability samples of public and private school students in grades 9 through 12 who were surveyed in the spring of 1989, 1990, and 1991, respectively. Controlling for demographic characteristics, we used logistic regression to test for trends from 1989 to 1991. From 1989 to 1991, the proportion of students who had received HIV instruction in school significantly increased from 53.7% in 1989 to 83.3% in 1991. At the same time, the proportion of students engaging in selected sexual behaviors generally decreased. We found significant declines in the proportion of students who had engaged in sexual intercourse (58.5% in 1989 to 54.1% in 1991), had two or more sex partners during their lifetime (40.1% in 1989 to 35.2% in 1991), and had four or more lifetime sex partners (23.6% in 1989 to 18.7% in 1991). School-based HIV instruction, which is reaching greater numbers of U.S. students, may be contributing to the decline in reported risk behavior. However, because the current level of HIV-related behavior is still too high, risk-reduction efforts for adolescents should be maintained and strengthened.