The purpose of this project is to investigate the disclosure patterns and risk behaviors of HIV positive persons over a 3-year time period. The """"""""theory of competing needs,"""""""" a developing theoretical framework will be employed as a way of understanding why individuals disclose an HIV-positive diagnosis under various circumstances, why individuals engage in risk-related behaviors, and how disclosure may relate to sexual risk taking. More specifically, the three goals for this project are to: 1. repeatedly measure the frequency of disclosure of an HIV-positive diagnosis; 2. repeatedly measure the frequency of risk taking behaviors; and 3. investigate the relationship between disclosure and engaging in risky behaviors that put others at risk. Questions of interest include the following: Over time, are HIV-positive persons who disclose their serostatus to at-risk others less likely to engage in risky sexual or drug using behavior than those who do not? Do trend or patterns of risky behavior and disclosure merge over time? Participants will be recruited from the Ohio State AIDS Clinical Trial Unit and consist of 200 gay males who have contracted HIV from unsafe sexual practices. Participants will complete data collection instruments every 6 months for 3 complete years resulting in seven data collection points. Measures include those of: social support, relationship satisfaction, loneliness, self-esteem, depression, health locus of control, risk taking behavior, needs assessment, disclosure, and demographics. Latent growth curve analyses will be employed to analyze this longitudinal data.
