Knowledge about HIV and behavioral risks of foreign-born Boston public school students.

In 1990, 3049 Boston public middle and high school students were surveyed anonymously in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, French, or Haitian Creole. Significantly fewer immigrant students, 35% of those surveyed, knew the principal modes of human immunodeficiency virus transmission. Fewer immigrants reported having sexual intercourse (31% vs 53% of nonimmigrants), but among the sexually active only 38% always used condoms, and more immigrants reported intercourse with intravenous drug users (4% vs 1% of non-immigrants). AIDS education should be taught to immigrant students in their native languages.