| Publication Abstract Display | | Type: Published Abstract | | Title: Ethnicity does not predict psychological adaptation in HIV. | | Authors: Cherner M, Patterson T, Semple S, Atkinson JH, Grant I, and the HNRC Group | | Year: 1998 | | Publication: Annals of Behavioral Medicine | | Volume: 20 Issue: S Pages: S162 | | Abstract:As AIDS continues to disproportionately affect communities of color, research must address psychosocial issues which may have quality of life implications for HIV-infected minorities. This study examined cross-sectionally and predicted over 1 year the experience of depressive symptoms using a composite measure based on the Hamilton Depression Scale and the Profile of Mood States. Predictor variables: ethnicity, adverse life events (PERI and LEDS methods), satisfaction with social supports (Shaefer, Coyne & Lazarus instrument), and coping activities (Ways of Coping Questionnaire). Control variables: age, education, level of HIV-related clinical symptoms (CDC 1993 criteria). Subjects: 573 HIV+ men (55 Latino, 110 African American, 398 non-Hispanic White) and 77 women (13 Latina, 17 African American, 47 non-Hispanic White). Groups were equivalent in age, education, and SES. There were no difference in life adversity between the groups. Whites reported a larger social network that African Americans (F(2,535)=4.7, p<.01). African Americans perceived greater support from relatives that did Whites (F(2,535)=3.3, p<.04). There was a trend for African American, but not White of Hispanic men with AIDS-defining symptoms to report less support from relatives that those without medical symptoms (F(2,535)=2.4, p<.09). Ethnic minority men also showed greater use of avoidant coping activities (F(2,535)=8.1, p<.02). White minority men endorsed more depressive symptoms than White men at baseline (F(2,535)=3.9, p<.02), ethnicity did not predict depression at follow-up in a multivariate regression model. Findings suggest the relationship between these psychosocial variables may vary across ethnic groups. However, in the absence of socioeconomic differences, people of color do not appear to experience more life adversity, and ethnicity may not be a significant moderator of HIV-related adaptation. Nevertheless, psychosocial models derived from research conducted primarily with Caucasian Americans may not adequately describe the experience of disadvantaged ethnic minorities. |
return to publications listing
|