INFLUENCES ON HIV RISK BEHAVIOR IN GAY MALE COUPLES

描述（申请人的摘要）：虽然我们已经进入第二阶段， 艾滋病毒大流行十年来，还没有治愈或疫苗。 在这个时候， 只有通过行为手段才能阻止艾滋病毒的进一步传播。 领先的研究人员建议，必须采取创新策略 这是为了加强我们的预防工作。 社会和/或 艾滋病毒风险行为发生的文化环境已被确定为一个 预防方案的重要方面， 低估 亲密关系是社会环境的一个例子 风险行为发生的地方。 许多关于艾滋病毒危险行为的文献 专注于个人的体验，而忽视了 男同性恋者在样本中的地位 基于个人的结论 报告没有考虑到合作伙伴可能对 增加或减少艾滋病风险行为。 为了解决一些 针对上述文献中的不足，本文提出了 将调查哪些因素影响男同性恋者的艾滋病风险行为 夫妻（低风险和高风险行为）。 这个框架 调查是一个概念模型，是在以下背景下开发的： 妇女、压力和心脏病（切斯尼和达布斯出版社）。 拟议 一项研究将从经验上验证该模型，并将其扩展到艾滋病毒的情况 风险行为 具体来说，四种预测艾滋病毒风险的中介模型 行为将被测试，重点是变量被证明是重要的 在健康心理学和艾滋病毒/艾滋病领域内构建 研究：社会支持，抑郁症和健康行为。 此外，本发明还提供了一种方法， 艾滋病毒具体措施的合作伙伴支持将与一般比较， 社会支持措施，以检验假设，更具体的 社会支持的测量将是一个更好的预测艾滋病毒的危险行为。 样本将由50对男同性恋夫妇组成，他们将完成 在三个不同的时间点自我管理的问卷调查（资金是 第三波数据收集的要求）。 因为 二元性质的数据，变量之间的关系将能够 在夫妇之间和夫妇之内， 纵向。 通过比较夫妇之间的数据，候选人的目标是 让我们了解艾滋病风险行为的社会背景， 发生并允许我们识别与风险行为有关的问题， 这对夫妇至今还不为人知。 此外，检查 夫妻之间的差异可能是我们知识的重要补充 关于风险行为，由于夫妻间社会支持的差异， 可以为干预提供一个关键的机会之窗。 忽略 这种对艾滋病毒危险行为的背景影响可能会使 预防措施无效。 总之，这项研究探讨了可能的 对艾滋病毒风险行为的影响：社会背景（在这种情况下， 亲密关系）、抑郁、社会支持和不良健康 行为。 该研究旨在为艾滋病毒预防文献做出贡献 在男同性恋者中，通过填补文献中关于上述角色的空白， 变量可能在艾滋病毒预防中发挥作用，以及阐明 合作伙伴可能会对彼此的风险行为施加影响。

DESCRIPTION (Applicant's Abstract): Although we are well into the second decade of the HIV pandemic, there is yet no cure or vaccine. At this time, further spread of HIV may only be deterred through behavioral means. Leading researchers have recommended that innovative strategies must be implemented in order to improve our prevention efforts. The social and/or cultural milieu in which HIV risk behavior occurs has been identified as an important aspect of prevention programs that has been previously underestimated. An intimate relationship is one example of a social milieu wherein risk behavior occurs. Much of the HIV risk behavior literature has focused on the experience of the individual, disregarding the relationship status of the gay men in their samples. Conclusions based on individual reports have not taken into account the influence a partner may have in either increasing or decreasing HIV risk behavior. In order to address some of the above deficits in the literature, this dissertation work proposed will investigate what factors influence HIV risk behavior for gay male couples (both low and high risk behavior). The framework for this investigation is a conceptual model that was developed within the context of women, stress, and heart disease (Chesney & Darbes, in press). The proposed study will empirically validate the model and extend it to the case of HIV risk behavior. Specifically, four mediational models predicting HIV risk behavior will be tested, with a focus on variables shown to be important constructs within the domains of both Health Psychology and HIV/AIDS research: social support, depression, and health behaviors. In addition, an HIV-specific measure of partner support will be compared with a general social support measure, in order to test the hypothesis that a more specific measure of social support will be a better predictor of HIV risk behavior. The sample will be composed of 50 gay male couples, who will complete self-administered questionnaires at three different time points (funding is being requested for the third wave of data collection). Because of the dyadic nature of the data, relationships between the variables will be able to be determined both between and within couples, cross-sectionally and longitudinally. By comparing data between couples the candidate aims to inform our understanding of the social context in which HIV risk behavior occurs and allow us to identify issues pertaining to risk behavior for couples which have heretofore been unknown. Additionally, examining differences within couples could be an important addition to our knowledge regarding risk behavior, as the discrepancy of social support within couples could provide a crucial window of opportunity for intervention. Ignoring this type of contextual influence on HIV risk behavior could render prevention efforts ineffective. In sum, this study examines the possible influences on HIV risk behavior: the social context (in this case, an intimate relationship), depression, social support and adverse health behaviors. The study aims to contribute to the literature on HIV prevention in gay men by filling gaps in the literature regarding the role the above variables may play in HIV prevention, as well as elucidating the influence partners may exert on each other's risk behavior.