AIDS-related behaviour in adolescents: intervention programme with international application.
Adolescents and young adults compromise one of the fastest-growing categories of AIDS cases. The results of an opinion survey taken of 3242 adolescents raise serious doubts about the prevalent view that high-risk behaviour is attributable to insufficient information and education on AIDS: female adolescents are found to be at risk despite having the proper knowledge. Five chief factors affected the knowledge and behaviour of adolescents: age, gender, origin, family profession, and parental education. Each of the subpopulations (females, younger adolescents, children in rural areas) has its own characteristics and needs. We describe a permanent and long-term intervention programme, which might be applied in any country.
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012736:Sex Education; D012737:Sex Factors