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Uncertainty and Fertility in a Generalized Aids Epidemic

Bibliographic Data

ID4522343
AuthorsJ Trinitapoli (0000-0003-2617-8176, Pennsylvania State University), Sara Yeatman (0000-0002-5991-6473, University of Colorado Denver)
Year2011
Volume76
Issue6
Pages935-954
Publication date2011-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-1224 • E-ISSN: 1939-8271
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0003122411427672
PMID22536003
PMCIDPMC3334314
OpenAlexW2008885122
LanguageEN
Citations received72
References cited76

Sociologists widely acknowledge that uncertainty matters for decision making, but they rarely measure it directly. In this article, we demonstrate the importance of theorizing about, measuring, and analyzing uncertainty as experienced by individuals. We adapt a novel probabilistic solicitation technique to measure personal uncertainty about HIV status in a high HIV prevalence area of southern Malawi. Using data from 2,000 young adults (ages 15 to 25 years), we demonstrate that uncertainty about HIV status is widespread and that it expands as young adults assess their proximate and distant futures. In conceptualizing HIV status as something more than sero-status itself, we gain insight into how what individuals know they don't know influences their lives. Young people who are uncertain about their HIV status express desires to accelerate their childbearing relative to their counterparts who are certain they are uninfected. Our approach and findings show that personal uncertainty is a measurable and meaningful phenomenon that can illuminate much about individuals' aspirations and behaviors

Economics · Epistemology · Fertility · Futures contract · Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV · Measure (data warehouse · Phenomenon · Population · Probabilistic logic · Sociology · Statistics · Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health · Computer Science · Demography · HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk · HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions · Mathematics · Medicine · Psychology · Social Psychology

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Unique citing works72
Citations per year5,14
Citation span2012 - 2026 (15)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 69
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