Images of self and others in AIDS-orphaned youth

Reich, Warren

Abstract

For the more than 97,000 children and adolescents in the US orphaned by AIDS, mourning a parent and adjusting to a new caregiver are often complicated by stigma and secrecy associated with HIV/AIDS and the continuing effects of HIV/AIDS-related family disruption. AIDS-orphaned youth (AOY) may have unique viewpoints and concerns not addressed by most HIV risk prevention programs. This formative research project seeks to understand the prevention needs of AOY in late adolescence (ages 18-22) by examining their self-conceptions, relationships with others, and possible futures. As a first step in developing prevention interventions that speak to the ways AOY see themselves, we explore the meanings AOY ascribe to """"""""riskier"""""""" and """"""""safer"""""""" sexual behaviors and how psychologically consistent these behaviors are with the way they view themselves, their relationships, and their social worlds. We address these questions using a powerful person-centered and context-sensitive method for collecting and analyzing data. Specifically, we aim to (1) identify common patterns of emotions, self-identities, and relationship schemas among AOY, (2) assess how AOY believe they would change if they were to become HIV+ or drug-addicted, (3) empirically represent, at both a person-centered and aggregate level, how various behavioral strategies in sexual or drug-related situations implicate self-conceptions, emotional states, and personal relationships of AOY, and (4) empirically represent, at an aggregate level, subgroups of AOY sharing common patterns of self-conceptions and motivational and emotional states. Results from our studies will yield insight into the underlying dimensions of the ways AOY perceive themselves and others, key features of how AOY believe their lives would change were they to become HIV+ or drug-addicted, and the perceived self-relevance of prevention-related behaviors such as refusing sex without a condom. Results will lay the groundwork for theoretically informed prevention interventions.