Work

Perceptions of behavioral norms related to HIV transmission by people with HIV and by residents of their communities

Year: 2012

Type: article

Abstract: We examined how people with HIV are both part of and apart from the communities in which they live. We compared perceptions of behavioral norms of 203 people with HIV living in 33 different communities with community-level normative perceptions assessed by surveys of 2,444 randomly selected residents of these communities. Participants with HIV perceived behavior that risks the transmission of HIV as injunctively and descriptively more normative than did other community residents. Participants with HIV living in communities in which community residents perceived relatively widespread approval of condom use to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases also perceived these behaviors as injunctively normative, and they perceived relatively low levels of HIV stigmatization. Discussion focuses on how perceptions about "deviant" behaviors may affect the experiences of people whose stigmatized status is assumed to be the result of such behavior.

Source: Social Influence

DOI: 10.1080/15534510.2012.712548

Authors: Carol T. Miller, Janice Y. Bunn, Kristin W. Grover, Sondra E. Solomon

Institution: University of Vermont

Language: English

Topic: HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions

Subfield: Infectious Diseases

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: bronze

Funder: National Institute of Mental Health