The proposed research will examine how commitment to a gay/bisexual identity and integration into the gay community affect risk reduction practices and psychological adjustment among 330 men in Sacramento (CA), a medium-size city that is not an AIDS epicenter. Using a combination of self-administered questionnaires and face-to-face interviews in a longitudinal design, two sets of hypotheses will be tested. First, it is hypothesized that the variables specified by existing theoretical models (e.g., the Health Belief Model, the AIDS Risk Reduction Model) will better predict consistent and sustained risk reduction among men who (a) are strongly committed to a gay/bisexual identity and (b) are well-integrated into the gay community. Additionally, risk reduction behavior is hypothesized to be more likely among men who (c) have a largely intact or reconstituted social network that includes gay an bisexual men; and (d) have developed a socioerotic identity that encompasses a variety of social roles in addition to sexual or erotic behaviors and, consequently, do not perceive high-risk sex or the social settings in which it occurs to be integral to their identity as a gay or bisexual man. The second group of hypotheses to be tested concerns psychological adjustment among gay/bisexual men during the AIDS era. It is expected that the negative psychological effects associated with positive HIV serostatus, AIDS-related bereavement, and loss of social network members due to AIDS will be less severe and of shorter duration among men who: (a) feel strongly committed to a gay/bisexual identity; (b) are well-integrated into the gay/bisexual community; (c) have a largely intact or reconstituted social network that includes gay and bisexual men; and (d) respond to their AIDS-related losses and setbacks through increased commitment to their gay/bisexual identity and to the community. Data will be collected in two waves of interviews approximately one year apart. Data from the first wave will be used to assess the extent to which identity and community variables explain additional variance in risk reduction and psychological adjustment beyond that accounted for by variables already found to be significant predictors in previous research. Data from Wave 2 will be used to replicate these analyses, and also to assess the long-term effects of identity and community variables on outcome measures.
