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1991.05.14 :  Survey Data on AIDS Education and Prevention

Contact: Sandra Smith (301) 436-7551 Liz Greeley  (301) 436-7135
May 14, 1991

     Almost one-third of sexually experienced unmarried women
have altered their sexual behavior to reduce their risk of AIDS,
according to a report released today by the Centers for Disease
Control's National Center for Health Statistics.
     The report, based on data from the 1988 National Survey of
Family Growth, shows that 31 percent of unmarried women who have
ever had intercourse have made one or more behavior changes in
response to the AIDS threat.  The category unmarried includes
women who were never married as well as those who were widowed or
divorced.  
     Among unmarried women who had 10 or more lifetime sexual
partners, 50 percent changed sexual behaviors, as did 34 percent
with five to nine partners and 26 percent of women who reported
two to four lifetime sexual partners.  The survey interviewed
women in the age range 15 through 44 years.
       Dr. William L. Roper, director of CDC, said in releasing
the report, "While there is still work to be done in educating
the public to the threat of AIDS, it is encouraging that a
substantial number of unmarried women at higher risk recognize
the dangers of HIV infection and have taken positive steps to
lessen that risk.
       "Education and prevention are still our most powerful
weapons in the fight against AIDS," he said.  
       In general, the survey found that the likelihood of
changes in sexual behavior increased with the number of lifetime
sexual partners.
       The most common behavior changes reported among sexually
experienced unmarried women were:
     --  Reduced sexual partners to one man (15.6 percent of all
unmarried women had done so and 29.1 percent of those with 10 or
more partners);
     --  Restricted sex to men they knew well (11.5 percent
overall and 29.1 percent of those with 10 or more partners);
     --  Reduced frequency of sex (9.3 percent overall and 16.2
percent of those with 10 or more partners); 
       --  Stopped having intercourse (5.5 percent overall and 5
percent of those with 10 or more lifetime sexual partners).
     Less than 2 percent of unmarried women reported any other
sexual behavior changes such as stopping having intercourse with
men who are bisexual or with men who are IV drug users.
     The survey did not attempt to determine the number of
unmarried women who engaged in the sexual behaviors cited in the
report, but only those who indicated a change.  This report
focuses on the changes made by unmarried women, since only 3
percent of married women reported changes in sexual behavior
since hearing of AIDS.
     Similar to the results of ongoing NCHS surveys of AIDS
knowledge and attitudes, this survey reported generally high
levels of knowledge by all women on the methods of AIDS
transmission.  There was still, however, some misinformation.  
For example, about 10 percent of all unmarried women wrongly
reported that AIDS cannot be transmitted through hypodermic
needles.    
       The survey also asked respondents: "Can a person get AIDS
from someone who has only the AIDS virus but does not have the
disease?"  
       About 29 percent of unmarried women either reported
incorrectly that HIV could not be transmitted this way, or that
they did not know whether it could be transmitted by someone who
has only the AIDS virus. 
     Four out of five women in the survey indicated they had
little or no chance of getting AIDS.  Some 17 percent believed
they had some
chance and 2 percent indicated a strong or very strong chance of
getting AIDS.
     "AIDS-Related Knowledge and Behavior Among Women 15-44 Years
of Age:  United States, 1988" presents data collected in the 1988
National Survey of Family Growth, from a national sample of women
in the childbearing years.  
       HHS Assistant Secretary for Health James O. Mason, M.D.,
who heads the Public Health Service, said, "Many studies by the
CDC and other groups show 85 percent or more people know how AIDS
is transmitted--by sexual acts and shared needles.  But this
survey included, for the first time, a series of questions about
the changes in sexual behavior made by women as a result.

       "People's habits are not easy to change and, as with
changes in cigarette smoking, change in sexual behavior follows
knowledge with frustrating slowness, but at least it does occur. 
Overwhelming numbers of Americans recognize education as our best
current weapon against AIDS."

       Copies of the report are available from the National
Center for Health Statistics, a part of CDC and the Public Health
Service, HHS, 6525 Belcrest Road, Room 10-64, Hyattsville, Md.
20782.
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