Reports on HIV/AIDS: 1990

JUNE 15, 1990, MMWR, Vol. 39, No. 23, pp. 385-389, 395-397
Education. D Frost, Louisiana State Dept of Education. J Cohen, Massachusetts Dept of
Education. WJubb, Michigan Dept of Education. C Hungerford, Missouri Dept of Elementary and
Secondary Education. D Chioda, Jersey City Board of Education; D Cole, New Jersey State Dept
of Education. K Gaylord, New Mexico State Dept of Education. G Abelson, New York City Board
of Education; A Sheffield, New York State Education Dept. R Frye, North Carolina Dept of Public
Instruction. C DeRemer, North Dakota Dept of Public Instruction. K Stofsick, Ohio Dept of
Education. J Richter, Oklahoma State Dept of Education. J Warren, Oregon Dept of Education.
M Sutter, Pennsylvania Dept of Education. E Rosado, Puerto Rico Dept of Education. A Ferreira,
Rhode Island Dept of Education. M Carr, South Dakota Dept of Education and Cultural Affairs.
E Word, Tennessee State Dept of Education. M Peterson, Utah State Board of Education. S Tye,
Dept of Education, Government of the Virgin Islands. P Hillard, Seattle Public Schools;
P Baldwin, Washington State Education Dept. B Johnson Biehr, Chicago Public Schools, Illinois.
D Scalise, The School Board of Broward County; AN Gay, The School Board of Dade County,
Florida. P Simpson, Dallas Independent School Dist, Texas. Div of Adolescent and School Health,
Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, CDC.
Editorial Note: From 1988 to 1989, the number of state, territorial, and local departments of education that conducted surveys about HIV-related knowledge and behaviors among high school students nearly tripled (from 15 to 42). This increase
represents a notable step toward establishment of state, territorial, and local schoolbased surveillance systems for monitoring priority health-risk behaviors among high
school students.
HIV-related knowledge and behaviors among high school students are cause for
concern throughout the United States. Most importantly, these surveys indicate that
many students are at risk for HIV infection because they use IV drugs and share
needles or because they have sexual intercourse with multiple partners. Many of
these findings are similar to those from surveys conducted in 1988 (1).
Although the findings in this report are based on a combination of probability and
nonprobability samples and comparisons of data among sites should be made with
caution, these results have assisted in planning and evaluating broad programs in
individual cities and states. For example, the Michigan Department of Education used
results from its 1988 and 1989 surveys to assist the State Board of Education in
supporting school-based HIV education programs that help students avoid behaviors
that result in HIV infection.
In addition to determining the prevalence of HIV-related risk behaviors among high
school students, surveys of this type should be used to measure the prevalence of
other priority health-risk behaviors, such as drug, alcohol, and tobacco use; imprudent dietary patterns; inadequate physical activity; behaviors that result in intentional
and unintentional injuries; and sexual intercourse that can result in sexually transmitted diseases or unintended pregnancies. State, territorial, and local departments
of education have worked with CDC and other federal agencies to develop the Youth
Risk Behavior Surveillance System. This system, implemented in 1990, will be used to
periodically measure changes in these priority health-risk behaviors. To increase the
number of sites with probability samples of ninth- through 12th-grade students and
the comparability of data among sites, CDC is providing intensive technical assistance
to interested departments of education. Departments of education can use the results
from these surveys to plan and evaluate comprehensive school health education
programs that help students avoid these priority health-risk behaviors.
Reference
1. CDC. HIV-related beliefs, knowledge, and behaviors among high school students. MMWR
1988;37:717-21.

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