Cross-sectional data were gathered from 1,625 children (M age = 12.85, SD = 2.21) which included 755 AIDS orphans, 466 vulnerable children, and 404 comparison children. Participants completed self-report measures of exposure to traumatic events, and psychosocial adjustment including behavior problems, depression, self-esteem, and future orientation. AIDS orphans and vulnerable children reported experiencing a higher total occurrence, density, duration, initial impact and lasting impact of traumatic events compared to comparison children. Scores reflecting adjustment were lower among orphans and vulnerable children than among comparison children. Both orphan status and traumatic events contributed unique variance in the expected direction to the prediction of psychosocial adjustment. The data in the current study suggested that children affected by HIV/AIDS in China are exposed to more trauma and suffer more adjustment problems than children who do not experience HIV/AIDS in their families.
Previous research has found a deleterious impact of stigma on the mental health of children affected by HIV/AIDS. Little is known about the longitudinal relationship of stigma and children’s mental health. This study explores the longitudinal reciprocal effects of depressive symptoms and stigma, specifically enacted stigma and perceived stigma, among children affected by HIV/AIDS aged 6 to 12. Longitudinal data were collected from 272 children orphaned by AIDS and 249 children of HIV-positive parents in rural China. Cross-lagged panel analysis was conducted in the study. Results showed that the autoregressive effects were stable for depressive symptoms, perceived stigma and enacted stigma suggesting the substantially stable individual differences over time. The cross-lagged effects indicated a vicious circle among the three variables in an order of enacted stigma→depressive symptom→perceived stigma→enacted stigma. The possibility of employing equal constraints on cross-lagged paths suggested that the cross-lagged effects were repeatable over time. The dynamic interplay of enacted stigma, perceived stigma and depressive symptoms suggests the need of a multilevel intervention in stigma reduction programming to promote mental health of children affected by HIV/AIDS.
The China Ministry of Health has estimated that there are at least 100,000 AIDS orphans in China. The UNICEF China Office estimates that between 150,000 and 250,000 additional children will be orphaned by AIDS over the next five years. However, limited data are available regarding the sociodemographic characteristics, care arrangement, barriers to appropriate grief resolution and psychological problems among AIDS orphans in China. In this article, we review secondary data and reports from scientific literature, government, non-governmental organizations, and public media regarding children orphaned by AIDS in China to address their living situation, bereavement process, and psychological problems. Our review suggests that AIDS orphans in China are living in a stressful environment with many orphans struggling with psychological problems and unmet basic needs such as food, shelter, education, and medical care. Based on our review, we suggest that future studies should address the psychosocial needs of AIDS orphans in China and develop health promotion programs to mitigate the negative impact of parental death on the physical and psychosocial wellbeing of these orphans.
The findings underscore the urgency and importance of culturally and developmentally appropriate intervention efforts targeting psychosocial problems among children affected by AIDS and call for more exploration of risk and resilience factors, both individual and contextual, affecting the psychosocial wellbeing of these children.
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