The analysis of the relationship between knowledge about AIDS and sexual activity in adolescents was one of the research subjects in a broader research program on patterns and determinants of health behaviours in adolescents.

The following questions were the focus of our interest: - 1) how much young people in our study know about AIDS; - 2) whether their knowledge of AIDS and their anxiety about contracting the disease are related to their sexual initiation; - 3) whether the amount of knowledge about, and fear of contracting AIDS in sexually active subjects are related to the number of their sexual partners, their using condoms during sexual intercourse, and to changes in this respect due to their anxiety about getting AIDS infection.

The sample included over 1000 boys and girls aged 15-19 from smaller and bigger urban areas, and various school settings. For data collection the questionnaire "TY i Zdrowie" was used ( Fråczek, Stæpieñ, 1991 - a Polish adaptation of "The Health Behaviour Questionnaire" by Jessor et al., 1989).

Some of the findings indicate that:

1) More than 70% of subjects were found to have the essential general knowledge of AIDS, ways of AIDS/HIV transmission, and methods reducing the AIDS/HIV infection risk. These subjects' scores were higher than 3/4 of the maximum score. In the whole sample of respondents 64% were not afraid , and the remaining 36% admitted they were sometimes afraid of contracting AIDS. Subjects afraid of getting infected with AIDS had the same amount of knowledge as had those not afraid of AIDS infection.

2) The amount of knowledge about AIDS in subjects before and after sexual initiation is the same. The subjects after sexual initiation expressed anxiety with respect to contracting AIDS more often than did those before the initiation.

3) In sexually active adolescents poorer knowledge about AIDS correlated with a higher number of partners. In boys, more frequent use of condoms correlated with better knowledge about AIDS. Less than 1/3 of subjects (27.3%) were found to have recently reduced the number of their sexual partners because of

anxiety AIDS, while about a half of subjects (43,4%) reported using condoms more frequently at present. Besides, subjects who had changed their sex life style were found not to differ in amount of knowledge about AIDS from those who had not changed their sexual behaviour.

The obtained results allow a characterization of attitudes towards AIDS with respect to sex life. On the verbal level, the subjects declare knowledge about ways of reducing the risk of contracting AIDS, and to some extent they apply this approach to their own sexual activity. The results also suggest that the anxiety about AIDS may be a consequence of sexual initiation rather than of the previous sexual education.

*)First part see: Adam Fråczek, Ewa Stæpieñ "Relationship between the Sociodemographic Characteristics of Adolescents and their Sexual Activity (Polish Sample) in this volume.

Ewa Stepien, Adam Fraczek: "Relationship between knowledge about AIDS and sexual activity in adolescence". Paper presented at the First International Congress of Adolescentology, Assisi, Italy, October 22-24, 1993.

Key words: adolescence, sexual activity, AIDS, Polish sample

Ewa Stepien: Assistant Professor of Psychology. Department of Clinical Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, MHSW, Warsaw, Poland

Adam Fraczek: Professor of Psychology. Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences & Department of Clinical Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, MHSW, Warsaw, Poland.