Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

What’s Sex Got to Do with It? The Role of Sexual Affect in the Relationship Between HIV Stigma and Mental Health

  • Brief Report
  • Published:
AIDS and Behavior Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This research attempts to understand the effect of HIV stigma on sexual affect (i.e., sexual anxiety) and the role sexual affect plays in the relationship between HIV stigma and mental health. Participants were 60 HIV-positive, sexually active adults. HIV stigma was found to have a negative effect on sexual anxiety. Further, the effect of HIV stigma on mental health was mediated by sexual anxiety. In other words, HIV stigma negatively affects individuals’ anxious feelings about their sexuality, and these feelings negatively impact mental health. These findings highlight the importance of understanding psychological aspects of sexuality in the affect of HIV stigma.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Goffman E. Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity. New York: Simon & Schuster; 1963.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Earnshow VA, Chaudoir SR. From conceptualizing to measuring HIV stigma: a review of HIV stigma mechanism measures. AIDS Behav. 2009;13(6):1160–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Sayles JN, Wong MD, Kinsler JJ, Martins D, Cunningham WE. The association of stigma with self-reported access to medical care and antiretroviral therapy adherence in persons living with HIV/AIDS. J Gen Intern Med. 2009;24:1101–8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Berger BE, Ferrans CE, Lashley FR. Measuring stigma in people living with HIV: psychometric assessment of the HIV stigma scale. Res Nurs Health. 2001;24:518–29.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Crandall CS, Coleman R. AIDS-related stigmatization and the disruption of social relationships. J Soc Pers Relat. 1992;9:163–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Wagner AC, Hart TA, Mohammed S, Ivanova E, Wong J, Loutfy MR. Correlates of HIV stigma in HIV-positive women. Arch Womens Ment Health. 2010;13:207–14.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Herek GM, Capitanio JP. AIDS stigma and sexual prejudice. Am Behav Sci. 1999;42:1130–47.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Herek GM, Widaman KF, Capitanio JP. When sex equals AIDS: symbolic stigma and heterosexual adults’ inaccurate beliefs about sexual transmission of AIDS. Soc Probl. 2005;52:15–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Swendeman D, Rotheram-Borus MJ, Comulada S, Weiss R, Ramos ME. Predictors of HIV-related stigma among young people living with HIV. Health Psych. 2006;25:501–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Cook JA. Sexuality and people with psychiatric disabilities. Sex Disabil. 2000;18(3):195–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Fitz-Gerald D, Fitz-Gerald M. Sexual implications of deaf-blindness. Sex Disabil. 1979;2:212–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. van der Straten A, Vernon KA, Knight KR, Gomez CA, Padian NS. Managing HIV among serodiscordant heterosexual couples: serostatus, stigma and sex. AIDS Care. 1998;10:533–48.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Meston CM, Buss DM. Why humans have sex. Arch Sex Behav. 2007;36:477–507.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Golub SA, Tomassilli JC, Parsons JT. Partner serostatus and disclosure stigma: implications for physical and mental health outcomes among HIV-positive adults. AIDS Behav. 2009;13:1233–40.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Snell WE Jr. The Multidimensional Sexual Self-Concept Questionnaire. In: Davis CM, Yarber WL, Bauseman R, Schreer G, Davis SL, editors. Handbook of sexuality-related measures. Newbury Park: Sage; 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Radloff LS. The CES-D scale: a self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Appl Psychol Meas. 1977;1:385–401.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Cohen S, Kamarck T, Mermelstein R. A global measure of perceived stress. J Health Soc Behav. 1983;24:385–96.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Baron RM, Kenny DA. The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1986;51:1173–82.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Harvey JH, Wenzel A. HIV, AIDS, and close relationships. J Soc Pers Relat. 2002;19:135–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Mineka S, Watson D, Clark LA. Comorbidity of anxiety and unipolar mood disorder. Annu Rev Psychol. 1998;49:377–412.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Hand GA, Phillips KD, Dudgeon WD. Perceived stress in HIV-infected individuals: Physiological and psychological correlates. AIDS Care 2006;18(8):1011–7.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Giami A, Pacey S. Training health professionals in sexuality. Sex Relat Ther. 2003;21:273–9.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Salvage D. Doctors and sexuality: the morphology of desire. Int J Ment Health. 1997;26:47–60.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Pachankis JE. The psychological implications of concealing stigma: a cognitive-affective-behavioral model. Psych Bull. 2007;133:328–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The Positive Talk Pilot Study was supported by the Hunter College Center for HIV/AIDS Educational Studies and Training. Data analyses were supported, in part, by the Ford Foundation’s Dissertation Fellowship Award. The authors would like to thank Drs. Kay Deaux, Michelle Fine, and John Pachankis.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Fenway Institute, Fenway Health, 1340 Boylston Street, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Julia C. Tomassilli

  2. The Center for HIV/AIDS Educational Studies and Training, 142 West 36th Street, 9 Floor, New York, NY, 10018, USA

    Jeffrey T. Parsons

  3. Psychology Department, Hunter College of the City University of New York, New York, NY, USA

    Jeffrey T. Parsons & Sarit A. Golub

  4. Critical Social/Personality Psychology, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York, NY, USA

    Jeffrey T. Parsons & Sarit A. Golub

  5. CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College, New York, NY, USA

    Jeffrey T. Parsons

Authors
  1. Julia C. Tomassilli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jeffrey T. Parsons
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sarit A. Golub
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Julia C. Tomassilli.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Tomassilli, J.C., Parsons, J.T. & Golub, S.A. What’s Sex Got to Do with It? The Role of Sexual Affect in the Relationship Between HIV Stigma and Mental Health. AIDS Behav 17, 1770–1774 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-012-0389-5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-012-0389-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation