MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT AIDS AMONG CHILDREN WHO CAN IDENTIFY THE MAJOR ROUTES OF HIV TRANSMISSION

Described knowledge about HIV transmission among 1,048 third, fourth, fifth, and sixth graders from a multiethnic urban school district. Par ticipants answered questions about behaviors leading to HIV transmissi on and about mechanisms of transmission. Children at all grade levels demonstrated a high level of recognition of the three primary routes o f HIV transmission (through sex, through drug needle sharing, and in u tero), However, children who knew about these routes also had many mis conceptions about the mechanisms involved in acquiring HIV through the se routes and about the ways HIV is nor transmitted. Misconceptions de creased with grade and socioeconomic status (SES). Although there were no race/ethnicity differences in knowledge of actual routes and mecha nisms of HIV transmission, there were move misconceptions about routes and mechanisms of HIV transmission among African American and Asian A merican children than among white children.