Students' knowledge and behavior concerning safer sex: a UK study.

Most students in institutions of further and higher education in the northeast of England who responded to a 1989 survey dealing with sexual behavior and safer sex were heterosexual and had been sexually active or intended to have sexual intercourse. Many students, however, believed that safer sex implied having no sex at all or were unaware of the role of nonpenetrative sex in preventing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. They did not use condoms, in spite of having positive attitudes about condom use, and they engaged in one or more sexual activities that increased the risk of acquiring HIV infection. In view of the increasing incidence of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), the authors assert, these findings are cause for concern and require concerted action by health educators and society to encourage safer sex practices and to prevent the spread of HIV infection.