The identification of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in 1981, and the subsequent isolation of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in 1983, signaled the beginning of worldwide concern over the potential impact of the disease. As the global incidence of AIDS and HIV infection increased, Canadians expressed growing apprehension about the epidemic's affect on themselves. Because adolescents potentially are at risk for HIV infection, a special need existed to determine how Canadian youth were responding to the AIDS epidemic. During the summer of 1987, the Federal Centre for AIDS, in conjunction with the National Health Research and Development Program and the Canadian Public Health Association, commissioned a nationwide study. A national sample of more than 38,000 youth in grades 7, 9, 11, and the first year of college and university were surveyed about their knowledge, attitudes, and behavior concerning AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Also included in the total sample were youth who had recently dropped out of school and those who lived on the streets of large cities. In this article, the authors summarize findings from the study and offer conclusions and recommendations for action.

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The Health Belief Model (HBM) was used to study parents' involvement in six at-home sexuality education activities for nine grade students. These activities are part of Skills for Healthy Relationships: A Program About Sexuality, AIDS, and Other STD (SHR). Some 216 parents, 62% of the population, completed and returned a self-administered questionnaire. Perceived barriers correlated most strongly with lack of parents' involvement in SHR. Additionally, perceived barriers and perceived self-efficacy were the most significant factors differentiating parents involved in SHR at-home activities from those who were uninvolved. Compared with highly involved parents, noninvolved parents were: 1) less confident their children wanted to do the activities with them (F[4,204] = 19.58, p < .0005), 2) less sure of their children's desire to talk with them about sex-related issues (F[4,213] = 7.03, p < .0005), and 3) less certain their AIDS-related facts were current (F[4,213] = 2.39, p = .05). Parents highly involved in SHR reported becoming more comfortable talking with their adolescents about STDs (F[4,205] = 4.04, p = .004) and felt their children talked a little more openly with them about AIDS and STDs (F[4,205] = 2.54, p = .04). In contrast, uninvolved parents reported no changes relative to communicating with their children about sexuality. For these reasons, SHR's inclusion of at-home activities shows promise for increasing parent-adolescent communication about sexuality.

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