Gender differences in adoption of AIDS preventive behaviors: Implications for women's AIDS education programs

Abstract

The effectiveness of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) education programs may be hindered by failure to consider the impact of socioeconomic, gender, and cultural factors on sexual risk-taking. An AIDS education survey completed by 490 first-year students at Canada's Lakehead University confirmed the salience of gender. Male and female students had equal knowledge levels of AIDS risk factors, and there were no significant gender differences in terms of perceived personal risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection (29.3% among females and 27.2% among males), anxiety about becoming infected, or perceived capability to control personal risk for HIV (83.9% for females and 82.0% for males). On the other hand, women were significantly more likely than men to seek accurate and current information about AIDS and its transmission (85.4% and 71.1%, respectively), to ask about their partner's history of unprotected sex (71% and 48%, respectively), to believe condoms should be used for every sexual encounter (65.9% and 55.4%, respectively), and to prefer monogamous relationships (94.6% and 85.5%, respectively). 78.5% of female students, compared to only 49.4% of their male counterparts, expressed confidence in their ability to refuse sex with a partner who would not use a condom. Overall, these findings suggest that young university women are more prepared than is generally assumed to act assertively and communicate openly in sexual encounters. At the same time, they indicate that responsibility for safe sex in this population continues to be assumed primarily by women.