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This document presents provisional data for all Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) questionnaire items from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) for August 1987. It notes that the AIDS questionnaire was designed to provide baseline estimates of public knowledge and attitudes about AIDS transmission, the prevention of AIDS virus infection, and changes in knowledge and attitudes over time. A section on selected findings reports that over 99% of respondents had heard of AIDS; 89% were certain that AIDS leads to death; 83% were certain there is no cure for AIDS; over 90% were aware of AIDS transmission through sexual contact with a person with AIDS or through sharing a needle for drug use with someone having AIDS; over 70% had heard about blood tests for AIDS; 90% felt they personally had no chance or a low chance of getting AIDS; and almost 90% realized that both celibacy and restricting sexual activity to a monogamous relationship with a person who did not have AIDS were effective ways to avoid the virus. Table 1 displays provisional estimates of the percentage distributions of persons 18 years of age and over by response categories according to age, gender, race, and marital status. In most cases, the actual question asked of the respondent is reproduced verbatim in table 1, along with the response categories. In a few cases, questions or response categories have been rephrased or combined. Results are discussed concerning respondents' awareness of AIDS, self-perceived knowledge about AIDS, general knowledge about AIDS, transmission of AIDS, blood tests for AIDS, risk of getting AIDS, AIDS prevention, and AIDS discussion and education. (NB)

This report is based on data from the 1988 National Health Interview Survey on Alcohol (NHIS-Alcohol), part of the ongoing National Health Interview Survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics. Interviews for the NHIS are conducted in person by staff of the United States Bureau of the Census. Information is collected on each member of the family. The survey contains many questions concerning alcohol consumption; the personal, medical, and social problems associated with alcohol use, and exposure to alcoholism and problem drinking in the family. This report describes the prevalence of both environmental exposure to alcoholism through having lived with an alcoholic when growing up or in marriage, and genetic exposure in terms of having had an alcoholic blood relative. The results indicated that about 43 percent of adults have been exposed to alcoholism or problem drinking in the family. In some cases, this exposure is very direct, as when persons grow up in a family with an alcoholic, and frequently lasts a lifetime. Sometimes the exposure is to an alcoholic spouse and lasts for varying lengths of cohabitation. Finally, the exposure may be strictly by blood, with little or no social contact. In all three cases the presence of alcoholism in a family member poses some risk, both for adverse social, psychological, and economic outcomes and for biological predisposition to the disease itself. Four statistical tables and technical notes are provided. (43 references) (LLL)