Examining HIV-related knowledge among adults in the U.S.

Supplemental AIDS data from the 1987 National Health Interview Survey indicate that adults in the U.S. know the most frequent modes of HIV transmission, but lack a more comprehensive understanding of HIV and AIDS. Elements from a diffusion model were isolated to create a path-analytic framework for examining the effects of population or recipient characteristics and information sources or communication channels on HIV-related knowledge with these data. This multivariate analysis suggests that persons of lower socioeconomic status, older adults, those from racial/ethnic minority groups, those living outside of metropolitan areas, men, and those citing mass media (television or newspapers) as their primary source of information about HIV and AIDS have slightly lower levels of HIV-related knowledge. Decomposition of the effects in the path analysis suggests that use of information sources or channels, as measured by survey data, accounts for little of the observed variation in HIV-related knowledge. The implications of these results for future research and HIV-related education are discussed.