Knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of college students towards AIDS at a historically Black university

Amy Clare Van Horn, Fayetteville State University

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore college students' attitudes towards the Autoimmune Deficiency Syndrome Virus (AIDS), to what extent preventive behavior and other cautionary behaviors have developed or exist because of the emergence of AIDS, and to assess the general knowledge of AIDS as a disease, with specific information pertaining to the viral modes of transmission. Demographic factors as well as a composite variable, self-efficacy, were studied in order to test their respective abilities to make predictions about the sampled college population's knowledge, attitudes, and behavior towards the AIDS virus. The sampled college population at the historically Black university yielded two significant findings: as feelings of self-efficacy increase, the more likely it is that the respondent is knowledgeable about AIDS; and as age increases, there is a decrease in respondents' preventive behavior towards the AIDS virus.

Subject Area

Families & family life|Personal relationships|Sociology|Public health|African Americans|Behaviorial sciences|Educational sociology

Recommended Citation

Van Horn, Amy Clare, "Knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of college students towards AIDS at a historically Black university" (1997). ETD Collection for Fayetteville State University. AAI1390622.
https://digitalcommons.uncfsu.edu/dissertations/AAI1390622

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