Effects of HIV/AIDS Information on Attitudes Toward AIDS: A Cross-Ethnic Comparison of College Students

College students (N = 274) from five ethnic groups were administered an AIDS information questionnaire and the Attitudes Toward AIDS Scale (ATAS; Goh, in press) to determine the effects of AIDS information on attitudes toward AIDS. A series of chi-squares and multivariate analyses of variance indicated significant differences among ethnic groups on the usage of HIV/AIDS information, the self-reported degree of knowledge about HIV/AIDS, measured knowledge about HIV/AIDS, and HIV/AIDS-related attitudes. Besides ethnicity, access to HIV/AIDS information and self-reported degree of knowledge about AIDS had significant effects on a person's measured knowledge of and attitudes toward HIV/AIDS.     

Psychosocial Responses of Hospital Workers to Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)1

To assess the psychosocial responses of hospital workers to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), 237 hospital employees were interviewed. Information was obtained on frequency and nature of contact with AIDS patients; knowledge about AIDS; attitudes about AIDS and about homosexuality; and stresses related to AIDS care. Four indices were developed: AIDS-Contact, AIDS-Phobia, Homophobia, and AIDS-Stress. Misperceptions and fears about AIDS, as well as negative attitudes about individuals with the disease, were common. AIDS-Phobia was positively correlated with Homophobia and AIDS-Stress. AIDS-Phobia and AIDS-Stress were negatively correlated with AIDS-Contact. More patient contact was associated with lower levels of perceived stress, except for those with frequent but impersonal patient contact. Strategies for educational programs based on results are proposed.     

The Instrumental and Symbolic Functions of Attitudes toward Persons with AIDS1

Five studies explored the psychological bases of attitudes toward persons afflicted with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). These studies examined both instrumental and symbolic bases of these attitudes. In Studies 1, 2, and 3, both instrumental factors (e.g., beliefs about the probability of one's own child contracting AIDS) and symbolic factors (general attitudes toward homosexuality) independently contributed to the prediction of attitudes toward having one's child attend classes with a nonhomosexual person having AIDS. In Study 4, only attitudes toward homosexuality (symbolic factors) and not beliefs about contagiousness related to students' expressing a desire to transfer from a class with an AIDS-infected professor. In Study 5, subjects role played the situation experienced by subjects in Study 4. A wider array of instrumental concerns was assessed. While both instrumental and symbolic factors were related to attitudes of role-playing subjects, the specific instrumental concerns of importance were related to beliefs about subjects' feeling comfortable with the professor and not the contagiousness of AIDS. Thus, these results paralleled those of Study 4. These findings are discussed with regard to their relevance for understanding the varying functions of attitudes and for understanding the stigmatization of disease victims.     

Psychological predictors of sexual behaviors related to AIDS transmission

This study was designed to assess the differential value of several psychological variables with regard to predicting safe-sex behavior. A sample of 94 male and 179 female undergraduate students, ranging in age from 16 to 66 years, were surveyed about sexual issues related to safe-sex practices. The survey included scales measuring participants' knowledge of transmission of AIDS, self-perception of safe-sex communication, fear and concern about AIDS, attitudes toward AIDS victims, and self-report of risky behavior. Several interesting relationships among predictor variables were found. For instance, favorable attitudes toward AIDS victims were positively correlated with knowledge about AIDS transmission, perceived communication with partners about safe sex, and fear of acquiring AIDS. However, only two predictor variables were independently predictive of self-reports of risky sexual behavior; specifically, fear about AIDS transmission was positively correlated with risky behavior, while communication was negatively correlated with risky behavior. These data suggest a need for a model that allows for complex, reciprocal relationships between the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components of safe-sex practice. Implications are applied to research with college populations.     

AIDS as Threat,AIDS as Stigma correlates of AIDS beliefs among the Dutch general public

Abstract

The central question of this article is whether findings about social and cultural correlates of preventive and public attitudes towards AIDS that were found in other western countries are also valid for the Netherlands. Answering this question contributes to the international accumulation of empirical knowledge about attitudes of the general public and might as well be relevant for the international transfer of knowledge about the public into assumptions of information campaigns. Eight hypotheses derived from international literature were tested on data of the 1987 module of “Cultural changes in the Netherlands,” a general opinion survey of the Dutch population (16-80 years old). In line with international research, younger age and more education are correlated with preventive knowledge and social acceptance; however sex and urbanization do not make a difference in the Netherlands As expected, a negative attitude towards homosexuals is related to a lack of acceptance of people suffering from AIDS, support for mandatory screening for HIV, as well as a lack of preventive knowledge. Also in accordance with earlier research, “authoritarian attitudes” are far more important in explaining the public attitudes than beliefs about AIDS as an individual threat.     

HIV/AIDS and health care workers: contact with patients and attitudes towards them

Data on a range of variables associated with contact with patients with HIV/AIDS and attitudes towards them were collected from 174 Scottish health care workers. Measures of attitudes and contact (overall, social and physical) were derived from the scales devised by Pleck et al. (1988). The measure of overall contact was not significantly related to attitudes, but those with predominantly social contact with patients with HIV/AIDS had more positive attitudes towards them. This relationship was moderated by occupational characteristics, concern about working with people of unknown HIV status and neuroticism. With all these variables controlled, including social contact, those who had not received in-service training relating to HIV/AIDS had more negative attitudes. The results are discussed with regard to the measurement of social contact with patients, salient beliefs, the occupational characteristics associated with attitudes, and in-service education.     

Adolescent Males' Knowledge and Attitudes About AIDS in The Context of Their Social World1

This study sought to find out how much total knowledge adolescents had concerning AIDS, what particular areas of knowledge were deficient, and how those areas might be related to attitudes and experiences in their social world. Seventy-eight adolescent males from one suburban and three urban high schools were interviewed. A 101-item questionnaire was used to assess: a) overall knowledge about AIDS; b) attitudes about sexuality, drugs, death, and AIDS and; c) related aspects of their social world, i.e., number of IV drug users known, and sources of information about AIDS. Analyses of variance were performed on overall knowledge of AIDS and on five content areas of knowledge. Race was shown to relate to significant differences in the knowledge scores. The social world associated with the urban samples were discussed as risk factors for minority youth. Different attitudes related to strengths and weaknesses in different areas of knowledge. Attitudes associated with deficiencies in different subareas of knowledge were discussed as additional risk factors and as presenting target areas for AIDS education efforts.     

Health Beliefs and Attitudes Toward People Living With HIV/AIDS

The present study was concerned with the relationship between health beliefs and attitudes toward people living with HIV/AIDS. Measures of attitudes toward people with HIV/AIDS, beliefs about the transmission of HIV, and health locus of control beliefs were completed by 128 undergraduate students. In general, subjects who believed that HIV was transmitted through normal social contact wanted to avoid contact with people with HIV/AIDS, and showed other negative attitudes, such as lack of sympathy and blame. They also believed that their health was influenced by powerful others and chance. The findings are discussed in terms of fear of contracting HIV and the tendency to blame the victim.     

AIDS and intimate relationships: Adolescents’ knowledge and attitudes

The knowledge level about HIV/AIDS among American adolescents aged 16 to 19 has been assessed on several occasions, showing that in recent years their knowledge base has improved. The knowledge bases of British adolescents and of adolescents younger than 16 have been largely ignored. In attempting to assess the likely impact on present or future behaviors of increasing adolescents’ knowledge base about AIDS it is important to also know something of adolescents’ attitudes to intimate relationships and to sex within those relationships. Previous studies have not linked these two aspects. In this study two hundred London schoolchildren aged 14 and 15 years completed a questionnaire tapping both their knowledge about HIV infection and its transmission and their attitudes to intimate relationships. Their answers revealed that they had absorbed the simple media messages about AIDS, that it kills and that use of a condom during sex offers protection. However they were less well informed on detailed aspects of prevention, although, worryingly, they believed that they knew all that they needed to about preventive measures. The majority had attitudes to intimate relationships that were compatible with the message of restricting their number of sexual partners; however, a significant minority did not. The latter were more likely to deny the risk associated with promiscuity. It is suggested that school-based AIDS education programs should help individuals to develop new attitudes to intimate relationships that are compatible with risk avoidance.     

A three city comparison of the public's knowledge and attitudes about AIDS

A survey of knowledge, beliefs and attitudes about AIDS was administered simultaneously in San Francisco, New York and London to a total of 399 persons. The aim was to investigate how such knowledge and attitudes may he influenced by social and cultural contexts, as well as by disease epidemiology. Across all samples of the general public (excluding risk group members) in the three cities, general fear of AIDS and anti-gay attitudes were significantly negatively correlated with knowledge about AIDS. In the London sample, general fear of AIDS and anti-gay attitudes were significantly and positively associated with both sexual and general health behavior change. Only sexual behavior change, however, was significantly correlated with general fear of AIDS and anti-gay variables for the New York sample. Neither of these variables was significantly associated with behavior change of any kind in the San Francisco sample. We accounted for these inter-city differences by proposing a four-stage model of public response to an epidemic over time. Our data support the need for specific programs aimed at the general public that take into account sociocultural and AIDS epidemiologic differences across different sociocultural contexts.     

An Investigation of the Determinants of Stigmatization and Prejudice Toward People Living With HIV/AIDS

The components and determinants of HIV/AIDS stigma and prejudice were investigated in an online‐questionnaire study. The results show that the components of the attitude toward people with HIV/AIDS consist of social distance, demands for political measures, negative stereotypes, and attribution of responsibility to people living with HIV/AIDS. Besides antigay attitudes and false beliefs about ways of infection, the HIV/AIDS attitude is connected to and depends on social dominance orientation (SDO) and right‐wing authoritarianism (RWA). Structural equation modeling indicated that antigay attitudes and false beliefs function as mediator variables for SDO and RWA. Implications of the results are discussed.     

The Association of Gender,Ethnicity, and Length of Residence in the Bay Area to Adolescents' Knowledge and Attitudes about Acquired immune Deficiency Syndrome1

A large-scale survey was conducted in San Francisco to assess adolescents' knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about AIDS. Data obtained from 1,326 adolescents demonstrate marked variability in knowledge across informational items, particularly about the precautionary measures to be taken during sexual intercourse which may reduce the risk of infection. The findings identified ethnic differences in knowledge about AIDS, with Asians having a lower overall knowledge score than Hispanics, Blacks, and Caucasians. Adolescents who score below the median for total number of correct responses were more than twice as likely to perceive themselves as very susceptible to AIDS. A comparison of surveys from other parts of the country suggests that proximity to an AIDS epicenter has great saliency for adolescents with respect to their knowledge and attitudes about AIDS. The proportion of adolescents reporting correct responses, for questions in common, between the surveys indicates that students in San Francisco score appreciably higher. A framework is also described for providing school-based risk-reduction health education for adolescents.     

Knowledge and attitudes of Pakistani medical students towards HIV-positive and/or AIDS patients

As the incidence of HIV increases, one of the major steps in preventing a widespread epidemic is to make certain that medical students are prepared to recognize and treat HIV infections and their related conditions, and to counsel patients about avoiding risks that might lead to infections. This cross-sectional study assessed the knowledge level of 357 medical students and their attitudes about AIDS and HIV enrolled in a Medical College in Karachi, Pakistan. Only 6% of the students had complete knowledge on symptoms of HIV/AIDS and 7% of the students had complete knowledge on the modes of transmission of HIV. Statistical analysis of demographic factors affecting knowledge was done. Linear regression and Maentel-Haenszel tests showed that older and clinical students were more knowledgeable of symptoms and modes of transmission of HIV/AIDS. Ten attitudes were correlated with knowledge and none of these showed an association. These results on knowledge indicate that education about HIV/AIDS should be incorporated in the curriculum and interventions must be taken by public health professionals to avoid poor treatment outcomes.     

Attachment Style,Assertive Communication,and Safer-Sex Behavior1

This research tested the proposition that the effect of attachment security on safer-sex practice may be mediated by communication patterns. One hundred eighty-five undergraduate students completed questionnaire measures of attachment, assertiveness, and attitudes to communication about AIDS. Eight weeks later, they reported on their practice of safer sex in the period since the first testing session. Hierarchical regressions showed that at Step I, anxiety about relationships (a measure of insecure attachment) was associated with less safer-sex practice, for all outcome measures. Attitudes to communication about AIDS added to the prediction of general reports of safer-sex practice: in line with the mediational model, anxiety about relationships became unimportant as a predictor when communication variables were included. Communication variables failed to add to the prediction of safer sex on the most recent encounter, and both anxiety about relationships and attitudes to communication about AIDS predicted condom use. Some gender differences in patterns of prediction were noted. The results are discussed in terms of attachment style and its links with the negotiation of sexual practice and relationship issues.     

AIDS and Perceived Change in Sexual Practice: An Analysis of a College Student Sample from California and Iowa1

The objective of this study was to examine the impact of belief about transmissibility of AIDS and concern about the disease on perceived changes in premarital sexual practices. It was posited that changes in sexual practices are most likely to occur when college students have more certainty about AIDS transmission and greater concern about AIDS. Based on this proposition, dating patterns, premarital sexual permissiveness, attitudes toward homosexuality, sexual orientation, and students' objective perception of AIDS as a problem were used as predictors of concern about AIDS and certainty of sexual transmission. Using a sample of 587 students in the state universities of California and Iowa and focusing on one type of sexual practices (i.e., condom use), it was found that concern about AIDS strongly increases the likelihood of using condoms. Contrary to our prediction, certainty about sexual transmission of AIDS was found to have a marginal effect on students' likelihood of condom use. Furthermore, it was found that monogamous dating, sexual permissiveness, and the degree of perception of AIDS as a problem significantly increase the likelihood of condom use if they are mediated by personal concern about AIDS. The implications are discussed with respect to the usefulness of a theoretical approach and its findings for education on AIDS prevention among college students.     

Communication and consistency: AIDS talk and AIDS attitudes

The main hypothesis tested in this study is that the frequency of talk about a particular domain is related to the consistency of attitudes in that domain. This hypothesis was developed by viewing talk as one of the ways in which people express their identities and by exploring the interpersonal processes involved in the construction of consistency. The hypothesis was tested with a questionnaire completed by 73 students at Oxford University. The first part of the questionnaire consisted of items related to attitude, and the second part contained questions about respondents' conversations about AIDS and related topics. Strong support was found for the hypothesis relating frequency of talk with consistency of attitudes. Data about who the respondents talked to about AIDS and the perceived agreement between them and their discussion partners demonstrated the homogeneity of the discussion environment. The implications for understanding attitude formation and change in everyday social contexts are considered.     

Sexual Prejudice Among Heterosexual College Men as a Predictor of Condom Attitudes

Heterosexual male college students (N?=?100) (average age?=?19.7; 43% European American; 39% Christian) from the southwestern U.S. completed surveys in order to test a model predicting condom attitudes from religiosity, gender role attitudes, sexual prejudice, and the belief that “AIDS is a gay disease.” In the final model, those who reported more religiosity, more traditional gender role attitudes, and greater anxiety about interacting with gay men also reported feeling their core values and beliefs were threatened by gay men. In turn, men who felt strongly threatened in this way more strongly endorsed the belief that “AIDS is a gay disease,” and stronger endorsement of this belief was associated with more negative attitudes about condoms and condom use.