Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia, Inc.; Thursday December 18 2:01 AM EST
The study, conducted in partnership with Yale's Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS, found an even higher percentage of white youths -- 98 percent -- considered themselves invulnerable to becoming infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Higher percentages of minorities -- 16 percent of Hispanics and 11 percent of blacks -- saw themselves as being vulnerable to the virus. AIDS has disproportionately affected minorities and homosexual men, but young people have been among the fastest-growing population segments.
The survey was conducted among a national sample of 770 people aged 12 to 34 during June and had a margin of error of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Asked how vulnerable they thought they were to getting the AIDS virus on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 one being not vulnerable at all and 5 being extremely vulnerable, 87 percent answered either 1 or 2.
The survey also found that while 20 percent of subjects had a friend or acquaintance who had died of AIDS, when asked based on what they knew or had heard whether there were any particular ways they and people they knew were at risk for getting the virus, over half could not think of a way.
"It tells us that despite the information that's out there, young people have not internalized the dangers of AIDS, drugs and alcohol, and other health-related risks," Dr. Michael Merson, Yale's School of Medicine's dean of Public Health said of the findings.
The study found that information provided in the mass media was not meeting young people's needs. About two-thirds said there was also not enough advertising about pregnancy prevention and the dangers of unprotected sex, while just over half said the same thing about AIDS.
Health issues in general were not among top concerns of the survey's subjects, with only 3 percent citing AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases as their most important personal concern. Nearly half cited career, employment, personal development and educational achievement as their top concern.
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