Some determinants of fear about AIDS among Australian college students

AIDS anxieties of adolescents: determinants of "state" and "trait" anxiety dimensions in a linear structural model

This study presents the effects of general psychologic characteristics on acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) anxieties and sexual behaviour of adolescents. To this end, data were collected in a complex interview and subsequently subjected to a linear structural model analysis. The questioned adolescents were divided into one representative group (n = 256) and a second group who had participated in a voluntary human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibody test (n = 45). AIDS anxieties have to be divided into two independent dimensions: first, a relatively stable feeling of AIDS anxiety (trait anxiety) and second, a manifest personal anxiety toward AIDS experienced in a concrete situation (state anxiety). A principal component analysis of the primary data brought forth four variables described as depression/general anxiety, extent of phobic anxieties, compulsion, and tendency to self-consciousness. The present study reveals that the AIDS trait anxiety is more pronounced among those subjects who are not well informed about AIDS, who tend to phobic anxieties, and who observe themselves in a particularly intensive manner. The AIDS state anxiety however, is stronger among subjects who are well informed about AIDS, have sexual experience, and observe themselves intensively. Among the participants who took part in the HIV test, there were more individuals with a higher manifest AIDS anxiety and stronger tendency to depression. The percentage of adolescents who were indeed exposed to a possible risk of getting infected was relatively low. Generally speaking, those young people who are depressed, anxious, and sexually active agreed more easily to take the test than young people with a pronounced phobia toward the risk of infection and less sexual experience. As a conclusion, we can state that those adolescents with less sexual experience tend to externalize their general sexual anxieties in the form of concrete AIDS anxieties.

AIDS and infection control: Dutch dental hygienists surveyed

A sample of all dental hygienists practicing in the Netherlands besides Amsterdam (n = 669) and all dental hygienists practicing in Amsterdam (n = 118) were sent a questionnaire to assess the extent of compliance with the Dutch Health Council's guidelines to prevent HIV transmission in dental practices. The response rate was 64%, Gloves, masks and spectacles were widely used. Use of disposable parts of the three-way syringes, medical dishwasher, sterilizable handles and sterilizable three-way syringes was insufficient. Disinfection was too often preferred to sterilization. Compliance with the guidelines was not related to the size of the city of practice. Amsterdam hygienists did not comply better than hygienists not from Amsterdam. One third of the respondents asked questions to assess whether a patient was HIV seropositive. Evidently, the view of the Dutch Health Council that knowledge of seropositivity is not necessary, was not shared by a substantial part of the hygienists. Fear of infection appeared to be negatively related to experience in treating HIV-seropositive patients and, indirectly, to perceived knowledge about AIDS.

Fear of AIDS: self-reports of Australian children and adolescents

Using a self-report questionnaire, we assessed fear of AIDS in Australian children and adolescents. Recently, the participants had been subjected to a community education program featuring frightening televised advertisements. A high level of fear was reported by 65.9% of the respondents. Girls reported a significantly greater mean fear than boys. Fear of AIDS was not significantly influenced by developmental factors. Given the design and measures, it was not possible to specify the origins of the fear response.