The good news first. In the past four years, the number of college-going males visiting commercial sex workers has gone down.

The bad news: the trend is because youths seem to think they have a lesser chance of contracting HIV/Aids if they have sex with their girlfriends, irrespective of their partner’s history.

In a shocking disclosure, college boys across the state believe that only sexual intercourse with commercial sex workers, and not girlfriends, makes them vulnerable to HIV/Aids.

The findings of a study conducted by the Family Planning Association of India (FPAI) indicate that this misplaced notion could accelerate the spread of the disease in Maharashtra.

The Behavioural Surveillance Study carried out over a period of four years since 2004 revealed that youngsters also prefer girlfriends to commercial sex workers as they are lighter on the pocket.

The percentage of students visiting commercial sex workers declined from 23% in 2004 to 5% in 2006 and 3% in 2008. In the same period, the percentage of youths having sex with casual non-commercial sex partners or girlfriends increased from 11% in 2004 to 16% in 2008.

“It’s a major shift in the sexual behaviour of collegians,” said Jayanta Basu, manager, monitoring and evaluation, FPAI, Mumbai, and study convenor. A total of 2,276 boys and 1,098 girls from 100 degree colleges in Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Sangli, Satara, Solapur, Aurangabad, and Nagpur were surveyed.

Terming it a worrisome trend, Jayanta Basu, manager, monitoring and evaluation, FPAI, Mumbai, and convenor of a studyon youth behaviour said, “Both male and female college students do not seem to relate HIV transmission and unsafe sex with their partners.”

Basu said the youth surveyed used condoms, but only as a barrier against unwanted pregnancy and not to protect themselves from transmission of HIV/Aids or other sexually transmitted diseases.

“Such false beliefs can spread infection rapidly in the student community,” said Dr Harish Pathak, additional project director, Mumbai District Aids Control Society. “We strongly advocate abstinence in case of students.”

The study was presented at the current international conference on gender-based violence and sexual and reproductive health organised by the National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health (NIRRH) in Andheri. The average mean age of students indulging in sexual intercourse was found to be 20.

The study found that an alarming 26% of female students indulging in sex had not used condoms consistently with their partners in the past 12 months.

Instances of sexual violence were also reported. “Some girl students reported being abused when they refused to have sex with their partners,” said Basu.