Differences in HIV risk perception among college students in India based on sex education

The World Health Organization, the United Nations and other international organizations have recommended the introduction of sexuality and reproductive health education in the curricula of schools in South Asian countries. In India the need for adolescent sexuality education is particularly urgent in light of her large population and increase in the incidence of HIV/AIDS. The purpose of the study was to determine whether HIV risk perception was different for Indian college students who had received sex education in school from those who had not. The International AIDS questionnaire (IAQ) was administered to Indian college students. The IAQ has four subscales including one measuring HIV risk perception. An independent t-test was conducted on the data to answer the research question. Only 32.7% of the participants reported receiving sex education in school. The mean score on HIV risk perception for those who had received sex education was 20.03 (SD =3.56), and that of those who had not received sex education was 18.39 (SD = 3.8). The t-test indicated that the means of the two groups differed significantly t (374) = -4.029, p = .000. Akwara et al (2003) argue that perception of risk is considered to be the first step towards safer sexual behavior. This study underscores the need for sex education in Indian schools and colleges focused on providing timely and state of the art education on HIV risk