[School children's knowledge of, need for and use of contraception before and after the AIDS campaigns. Knowledge and sources of information]. / Skoleelevers viden om, behov for og brug af praevention før og efter AIDS-kampagnerne. Viden og informationskilder.

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the present paper was to investigate the influence of the AIDS-campaigns on adolescents' knowledge of contraception and pregnancy and their sources of information. All pupils in their ninth school year in the municipality of Viborg answered an identical questionnaire in 1986 and 1993, dealing with the mentioned subjects. In 1986, 539 questionnaires were included, in 1993, 391. In 1986, sexually inexperienced boys had lesser knowledge than the rest. This could not be shown in 1993. Although their knowledge was not optimal, the pupils in 1993 answered better than the 1986-pupils. They had the same informational sources, but in 1993, the school was mentioned as an important source by nearly all. The mother, on the contrary, had decreasing importance as a source of information. Two thirds were generally satisfied by the sexual information given by the school. Experienced boys were significantly more often unsatisfied. It is concluded that the condom-orientated AIDS-campaigns have not in general decreased the knowledge of contraception and pregnancy among adolescents. Their knowledge is, however, not optimal. The school is extremely important as an informational source, especially if the importance of the parents decreases. This implies that fewer of those adolescents, who have left school, have adult support in dealing with sexual problems.