The research was conducted in Nasarawa State of Nigeria. All rural youths in the state were the target population. A multi stage sampling procedure was adopted in selecting the sampled respondents. A total of 295 respondents were used for the study. Data were collected through the use of interview schedule and questionnaire and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used based on the stated objectives. The findings of the study showed that most (38.31%) of the respondents were within the age group of 21 -25 years. Majority (70.17%) of the respondents were males and single (60%) with secondary school education as the highest qualification. With regards to occupation, most (40.68%) of the respondents were farmers and students respectively. Results on the knowledge of HIV/AIDS by the respondents indicate that majority (50.85%) believed that the disease was a deadly, showing that they were knowledgeable about the deadly nature of the disease. Majority (90.45%) of the respondents ranked abstinence (not having sex before marriage) as the first among the preventive practices they have adopted. The effect of female-male differential in adoption of preventive practices among the sexes was examined by comparing the mean adoption index of the respondents. While the males had a mean adoption index of 0.5844, the females had 0.6203 showing that there was no significant difference in the adoption indices between males and females implying that no particular sex adopted more than the other in the study area. The results of the regression analysis show that sex, marital status, occupation and religion did not have significant effect on the adoption of preventive practices among the respondents. However, education and age were found to be significant. The study therefore, recommends that there is the need for more enlightenment campaigns at different levels including government and nongovernmental bodies’ especially religious groups to further sensitize the youth on HIV/AIDS preventive practices. Key words: HIV/AIDS, Perception, Preventive practices, Rural youths, Nasarawa state
