SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF HIV TRANSMISSION AND PREVENTION AMONG HETEROSEXUAL YOUNG-ADULTS

The social construction of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) transmission and prevention is explored using data obtained from 25 in-depth interviews conducted with French- and English-speaking college students, aged 17-22 years old, in Montreal. The content of common sense knowledge, its relationship to scientifically based safer-sex guidelines, and the strategies used hy young adults to construct their reality of Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) transmission and prevention are described. A single rule of HIV protection predominated for these young adults. protection through selection of uninfected partners. The implementation of this rule varied based on gender and sexual experience. The gender based rules and roles reflect a continuing double standard with respect to sexual activity which result in differences in men's and women's ability to protect themselves and in the content of constructed safer-sex strategies. Implications of these findings for educational policy are discussed.