Interpersonal strategies associated with the discussion of AIDS

Abstract

The disease, AIDS (i.e., acquired immune deficiency syndrome), has raised concern among many people throughout the world. Although medical attention has been focused for some time on identifying the causes and cures of this deadly disease, research designed to examine the psychological aspects of AIDS has just begun. Within this context, two investigations were conducted to construct and validate the AIDS Discussion Strategy Scale (ADSS), an objective self-report instrument designed to measure the types of interpersonal discussion strategies that women and men use if they want to discuss AIDS with an intimate partner. A factor analysis conducted in Study I provided evidence for six AIDS-related discussion strategies: rational, manipulation, withdrawal, charm, subtlety, and persistence. Reliability analyses indicated more than adequate internal consistency for the resulting ADSS subscales (alphas from .74 to .96). Other findings revealed that, relative to males, females reported they would be more likely to use rational types of AIDS discussion strategies with an intimate partner. Additionally, it was found that research participants' stereotypes about AIDS influenced the types of strategies they were likely to use in discussing the topic of AIDS within a close relationship. Other results in Study II provided evidence that men's and women's willingness to discuss AIDS with a potential sexual partner was related to cognitive, behavioral, and affective aspects of their sexuality.