The present study was conducted to obtain the beliefs related to the origin of AIDS in university students, as well as their relationship to demographic variables, knowledge and attitudes about AIDS, condom use. sexual behavioral patterns and perception of risk of infection by HIV. The interest in the area of beliefs stems from the large amount of national and international literature reporting that up to date, and against what should be expected, the knowledge of the syndrome is heavily influenced by prejudice and stereotyped beliefs. The results of knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, risk perception and sexual practices in relation to AIDS, were obtained from a sample of 278 students (52% male and 48% female) with a mean age of 21.6 years, from the schools of Veterinary and Political Sciences of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. The questionnaire was developed based on the dimensions utilized by the World Health Organization and The Mexican National Council for AIDS (CONASIDA) for the areas of sexuality and AIDS One-hundred and thirteen items were created and included in one of the eight areas: a) sociodemographic data, b) sexual lite, c) contraception and condom use, d) knowledge and attitudes towards condom use, e) Knowledge and attitudes towards AIDS, f) history of sexually trasmitted diseases, g) history of needle use and h) drug consumption. In addition, in order to evaluate the beliefs about the origin of AIDS, 13 items related to different explanations of the origin such as ''AIDS is a punishment of God'', ''Is a result of having sexual relationships with prostitutes'', 'Is characteristic of people of low socio-economic levels'', were included. Each item was placed on a 3 point likert scale measuring level of agreement to the statements. Results show that the beliefs more accepted by the students were those which saw the origin of AIDS in the loss of values and irresponsability in general, followed by beliefs related to lack of higiene, immoral life, having sexual relationships with prostitutes, not controlling sexual urges and having a bisexual orientation, The beliefs least agreed on were with AIDS being a punishment of God and that AIDS would result from having sex with more than one person. Analyses of variance for the beliefs by gender, sexual patterns and professional carreer showed several significant differences. For example, females reported that AIDS is originated by sexual relationships with prostitutes more than males (xBAR = 2.5 vs. xBAR = 2.2, F = 11.314 (1,256)gl p < .001) and that AIDS is a product of lack of higiene (xBAR = 2.7 vs. xBAR = 2.5, F = 7.642 (1,259)gl p < .01). Students from Veterinary showed higher means than students of Political Sciences in the same beliefs of the gender differences (xBAR = 2.5 vs. xBAR = 2.2, F = 9.759 (1,256)gl p < .01 and xBAR = 2.7 vs. xBAR = 2.5, F = 4.665 (1,259)gl p < .05, respectively). Factor analysis with ortogonal rotation of the beliefs yielded two conceptually congruent dimensions, with factor weights larger than .40. The first factor which was termed ''Moral'' (6 items), reflects beliefs closely related to loss of values and irresponsibility (is-proportional-to = 56), the mean for the dimension was 2.37 with a SD of +/-.37. The second factor was called ''Social/sexual'' (3 items) and refers to beliefs that AIDS basically originates for lack of adecuate sexual orientation and education (is-proportional-to = 65, xBAR = 1.94, SD = +/- .61). The correlation between factors was r = .26. The two factors were correlated or submitted to analysis of variance with variables of knowledge and attitudes towards AIDS and condom use, sexual behavior and risk perception. For the moral dimension, those student who considered condoms adecuate for use with wifes and regular partners had higher morality beliefs (xBAR = 2.4) than those that did not (xBAR = 2.3), F(1,236) = 4.27; p < .05. With relation to sexual behavior, the fewer sexual partners in life was correlated with more moral beliefs (r = -.21). While students who confesed at least one ocassion in which they should have protected themselves from HIV transmission and did not, had less moral beliefs regarding the origin of AIDS (xBAR = 2.2) than those who said they had never been in danger (xBAR = 2.4), F(1,238) = 4.54; p < .05. For the Social/sexual dimension, significant correlations with beliefs about risk practices were found. For example, those who indicated that it is more risky to have sexual relations with many people (r = .22; p < .001), engage in mutual masturbation with ocasional sexual partners (r = .19; p < .001), having sexual relations using a condom with someone who uses drugs with needles (r = .19; p < .01), using public bathrooms (r = .16; p < .01) and having oral sex with an unknown person (r = .16; p < .01), had higher scores in the beliefs that indicate that AIDS originates in sexual orientation and lower socio-economic groups. At the same time, those students who said that condom use goes against their religious principles (xBAR = 2.2 vs. xBAR = 1.9; F(1,237) = 6.65; p < .05) and those who did not have a regular sexual partner (xBAR = 2.0 vs. xBAR = 1.8; F(1,247) = 7.56, p < .01) had higher scores in the Social/sexual dimension. The findings of the present study unfortunately indicate a persistence in beliefs that associate the origin of AIDS with moral evaluations and not with specific behavioral patterns. The results are discussed considering the implications of the stigma and prejudice that persist around AIDS and its victims, including among others the ''just world'' hypothesis advanced by Lerner (1980).
