Primary Relationships and Mental Health in a Cohort At Risk for Aids (Immune Deficiency).

Abstract

This research examined the effects of AIDS-related stress and primary relationships on the mental health of homosexually active men at risk for AIDS. Participants were 447 gay and bisexual men living in the Chicago area who completed self-administered questionnaires at three timepoints six months apart beginning in June 1984. The research asked: (1) Does the stress a man at risk experiences because of the AIDS crisis--in the form of knowing someone who has been diagnosed or who has died from AIDS--affect his mental health? Does it matter to psychological health whether the person who is diagnosed or who died is an acquaintance, a friend, or a sexual partner? (2) Does this effect of stress on mental health depend upon whether or not the individual is in a primary relationship? (3) What aspects of primary relationships particularly benefit mental health? Does the effect of AIDS-related stress on psychological health depend on overall relationship quality? In performing these analyses, the respondent's previous level of psychological health was included as a statistical control. Men who knew someone with AIDS showed increased distress, regardless of whether the person was an acquaintance, friend, or sexual partner. Effects of past stress in the personal network were not significant, but current stress was related to an increase in psychological problems. Relationship status was not associated with changes in psychological health. The stress of knowing someone with AIDS did not affect the mental health of men who were consistently out of relationships more than those who were consistently in them. However, stress did affect the mental health of men whose relationship status changed during the previous year. Relationship quality proved more influential than simply having a relationship. Four types of relationship quality were examined: relationship satisfaction, lack of relationship tension, concordance, and affirmation. Each type contributed to improved psychological health. In particular, men who felt affirmed in their primary relationships--for example, who felt their partners appreciated them just as they were--became psychologically more healthy during the course of the study.Ph.D.Social psychologyUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/161610/1/8729290.pd