HIV instruction, HIV knowledge, and drug injection among high school students in the United States

D. Holtzman, J.E. Anderson, L. Kann, S.L. Arday, B.I. Truman and L.J. Kolbe

American Journal of Public Health, 1991, vol. 81, issue 12, 1596-1601

Abstract: Background. The prevalence of HIV-related behaviors and determinants of these behaviors among adolescents in the United States have not been well studied. Methods. To determine the prevalence of HIV-related drug behaviors and to assess the effects of HIV-related school-based instruction and HIV knowledge on these behaviors, data were analyzed from a 39-item, self-administered questionnaire completed by a probability sample of all students in grades 9 through 12 in the United States. Results. Usable responses were obtained from 8098 students. Of these, 2.7% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.3-3.2) and 1.7% (95% CI = 1.3-2.1) reported injecting illicit drugs ever and during the past year, respectively. Corresponding prevalences of needle sharing were 0.8% (95% CI = 0.5-1.1) and 0.5% (95% CI = 0.3-0.7). Regression analysis revealed that students with higher knowledge scores were less likely and males more likely to have ever injected drugs. HIV knowledge was similarly associated with other outcome measures of drug-injection behavior. Although HIV instruction did not directly influence drug-injection behavior independently of demographic characteristics, it was positively associated with HIV knowledge. Conclusions. While these results do not establish a causal relationship, they suggest that HIV knowledge and school-based instruction may play a role in maintaining low levels of drug-injection behavior among high school students.

Date: 1991
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:1991:81:12:1596-1601_9

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia

More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().