Gender differences in HIV-related psychological distress in heterosexual couples

Abstract

In order to determine the effect of family support on the psychological well-being of heterosexual couples with at least one HIV-seropositive, family support data were obtained from couples, who were separately interviewed. Two hundred heterosexuals were interviewed (97 males, 103 females). 182 were partners in HIV serodiscordant couples (18 members were in 10 couples concordant for HIV-seropositivity). Overall, there were 76 HIV+ males and 30 HIV+ females. The Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) was used to measure psychological distress. Sixty-five per cent of the subjects had family members aware of partners' HIV infection, but only 50% of aware families were reported as supportive. Family support was not a significant predictor of distress. Gender was the most significant predictor of psychological distress as measured by the BSI subscales. Both HIV positive and HIV negative females had more distress than their male counterparts on several dimensions (somatization, obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, phobic anxiety and paranoia), and on the General Severity Index (GSI) of the BSI (HIV-positives: p = 0.003; HIV-negatives: p = 0.01). Despite the general lack of association of family support with psychological distress, women in couples affected by HIV had more distress than men. The mental health needs of women clearly differ from men, and continued gender comparisons should be done to develop appropriate and effective interventions for these groups.

Genetic testing for hereditary colorectal cancer in children: Long‐term psychological effects

“…In fact, in the present study, the affected mother/unaffected father pairs tended to have higher mean depression scores than affected father/unaffected mother pairs. Although experts disagree on the explanation [e.g., Gove, 1984;Verbrugge, 1985], women have been shown to experience greater levels of distress than men when facing stressors such as colon cancer [Cella et al, 1987;Baider et al, 1989;Northouse et al, 2000], HIV [Kennedy et al, 1995], and natural disaster [Steinglass and Gerrity, 1990]. One study found that women affected with colorectal cancer were more distressed than their husbands at the time of diagnosis and 60 days after surgery [Northouse et al, 2000].…”

Gender and Age Differences in Quality of Life and the Impact of Psychopathological Symptoms Among HIV-Infected Patients

“…Both HIV-positive men and women have been shown to have psychological distress associated with HIV infection [51,52], and most studies have shown evidence that women usually reported higher psychopathogical symptoms or psycholocical co-morbidity than men [53][54][55]. According to Vosvick and colleagues [5], across multiple samples of PLWHA, it is evident that men and women differ in symptoms, behaviors, and other conditions, which greatly influences well-being.…”

Psychological adjustment of women with HIV/AIDS: Racial and ethnic comparisons

“…In general these studies have found that women tend to experience high levels of psychological distress and that the levels they experience are probably, on average, as great or greater than those experienced by men. Relative to HIV-infected men, HIV-infected women have been shown to report scores indicative of significantly poorer adjustment on measures of mental health (Wachtel et al, 1992); psychological distress, including subscales of depression and anxiety (Kennedy, Skurnick, Foley, & Louria, 1995), depression (Linn, Poku, Cain, Holzapfel, & Crawford, 1995;Linn Anema, Hodess, Sharpe, & Cain, 1996;Cleary et al, 1993), and anger (Anderson, 1995).…”