Abstract:
Most researchers on adolescent reproductive health and related susceptibility to contracting
HIV/AIDS have highlighted the ironical mismatch preponderant between adolescent
knowledge of HIV/AIDS transmission dynamics and behavioural change exemplified in part
by abstinence but also condom use. The paradox is compounded by the fact that survey data
seems to depict heightened knowledge of the dynamics per se. Empirical data has previously
posited variables as peer pressure and other psychosocial factors as the crisis at adolescence
as explaining the anomaly. Results in the current study however unveil the culture of silence;
the disdain towards AIDS messages and retrogressive cultural practices as alternative
explanation. The results were obtained through survey data from adolescent students in
selected schools in Zomba, a district in southern Malawi, and are discussed within the larger
context of the applicability of cognitive dissonance theory to the AIDS pandemic.
