STUDENT OPINION LEADERS AND HIV AIDS KNOWLEDGE AND RISK BEHAVIOR

This research applied the construct of opinion leadership to the healt h area of AIDS. Approximately 290 college students completed a questio nnaire that identified individuals whom peers tended to use as sources of information about AIDS. The results showed that, among men, the AI DS opinion leaders tended to have a larger number of sexual partners t han their nonleader counterparts and that they were no more likely to practice safer sex or be more knowledgeable about safer sex. Female AI DS opinion leaders tended to engage in less sexual activity than their nonleader counterparts, but showed a greater reluctance to communicat e with men about condom use. In addition, female AIDS opinion leaders were neither more knowledgeable about safer sex nor more likely to eng age in safer sex than were their nonleader counterparts.