Effects of Aids on Homosexual Attitudes and Behavior

A questionnaire was designed to assess attitudes and behaviors with regard to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) and distributed to 66 male adult gays In the Buffalo, NY area. Volunteers were recruited at gay support meetings with more than 75To of the membership present. Ages ranged from 18 to 65 yr. and were evenly distributed across this range and blueand white-collar workers were approximately equal. Forty-three reported being exclusively homosexual while 23 reported having occasional relations with women ranging from once every 10 yr. to 100 tirnes/yr. In our sample 3 were currently married and 8 had been married at one time. Realization that AIDS existed did not decrease male-to-male sexual intercourse with medians of 8 timeslmonth for both before and after and the Wilcoxon sign test was not significant at the .05 level. There was a significant decrease shown by the Wilcoxon sign test in the number of different male sexual partners, with medians of 7 and 2 times/month for before and after, respectively. There were 33 who reported a change in the number of partners and only two reported a very small increase. Fifty percent of our sample had sex twice or more per week whch corresponds well with the 47% presented by Bell and We~nberg (1978) with a much Iargcr sample ( N = 574). Our value of seven difcerent partners/mor~rh or 84/year seems high. Batchlor (1988) expresses disbelief with the representativeness of Lui, et al.'s (1988) figure of 49.6 feeling it is too high. Our value of 84 is nearly twice as large. Our subjects expressed moderate worry about contracting AIDS as shown by a median of 5 on a 10-point scale ranging from 'not at all worried' to 'very worried.' As shown by a Pearson correlation those who worried more had lower frequencies of intercourse (r = -0.61, p < ,0001, range = 0-6O/mo.) and fewer sexual partners (r = -0.30, p < .01, range = 0-35/mo.). Condom use was reported by 55.4%. Asked whether they discussed the possibility of AIDS with a prospective sexual partner 61.3% reported 'yes.' Those feeling support from the local community for AIDS research were 12.1% and from local politicians were 0%. Our research would support the belief that an awareness of AIDS has led gay men to be less promiscuous. It is hoped that continuous descriptive research of this kind can provide useful feedback on one of the most perplexing problems of our age

Feeling · Sexual behavior · Sign test · Test (biology · Wilcoxon signed-rank test · Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health · Demography · HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Psychology · Social Psychology

• Aids 1988

  Walter Batchelor, Walter F Batchelor•American Psychologist•1988

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