Psychosocial co-factors in HIV illness: An empirically-based model

Thomason, Bradley T.; Jones, Glenn N.; McClure, Jennifer B.; Brantley, Phillip J.

doi:10.1080/08870449608400266

Cited by 17 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Research has repeatedly demonstrated a relationship between psychosocial factors, such as environmental stressors (Thomason et al, 1996), low social support, negative mood, and conflictual intimate and family relationships (Wyatt et al, 1998) and greater sexual risk taking in a variety of populations. However, while there has been increasing attention given to the role that CSA and trauma, substance use, and psychiatric distress and dysfunction play as additional contributors to risk among women, our review of the literature found no studies to have investigated all of these hypothesized predictors in the same analyses or that have investigated whether ethnicity is a predictor of risky sexual behavior independent of the other psychosocial risk factors.…”

Section: Psychiatric Distressmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethnicity, Serostatus, and Psychosocial Differences in Sexual Risk Behavior Among HIV-Seropositive and HIV-Seronegative Women

et al. 2004

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Childhood sexual abuse and related life traumas, and other psychosocial variables were investigated as contributors to ethnic differences in sexual risk behaviors among women who differed in HIV-serostatus. A multiethnic sample of 457 HIV-positive and HIV-negative women residing in Los Angeles county was recruited and studied over 2 years as part of the UCLA-Charles R. Drew University Women and Family Project (WFP) study. Comprehensive interviews were administered to participants by ethnically- and linguistically matched interviewers. Data on demographic information, sexual trauma, substance abuse/dependence, psychiatric distress, and sexual history and risk behaviors were collected. The sample for these analyses consisted of 155 African American, 153 European American, and 149 Latina women, and nearly two-thirds of the sample was HIV-seropositive. HIV-positive women were significantly more likely to report more posttraumatic stress, chronic stress, negative health behaviors, drug use, and psychiatric history than HIV-negative women. European American and African American women were more likely to report a history of sexual trauma than Latina women. Finally, Poisson regression analyses revealed that history of trauma, ethnicity, drug and alcohol use, homelessness, and being HIV-positive were associated with greater likelihood of engaging in high-risk sexual behaviors, with history of trauma increasing the likelihood of engaging in high-risk behaviors by 5.1%. These findings highlight important differences among women as a function of ethnicity and HIV status, and underscore the need for special services for HIV-positive women that address the risk-enhancing effects of substance abuse/dependence, homelessness, and sexual trauma.

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Section: Psychiatric Distressmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethnicity, Serostatus, and Psychosocial Differences in Sexual Risk Behavior Among HIV-Seropositive and HIV-Seronegative Women

et al. 2004

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“…Moss et al, 1989Jacobs et al, 2001Segerstrom, 2001Mulder et al, 1995Jern et al, 1989Segerstrom et al, 1998Patterson et al, 1995Johnson et al, 1996Song et al, 1999Perry et al, 1992Kamei et al, 1998 Uchakin et al Shea et al, 1991Marsland et al, 1995 Whitehouse et al, 1996 Thomason et al, 1996Wolf et al, 1994Thornton et al, 2000McDonald & Yagi, 1960Workman & La Via, 1987Vialettes et al, 1989Miller, Dopp, et al, 1999Zautra et al, 1989Mills, Berry, et al, 1995…”

Section: Acknowledgementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychological Stress and the Human Immune System: A Meta-Analytic Study of 30 Years of Inquiry.

Segerstrom

Miller

2004

Psychological Bulletin

2,599

1,845

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The present report meta-analyzes more than 300 empirical articles describing a relationship between psychological stress and parameters of the immune system in human participants. Acute stressors (lasting minutes) were associated with potentially adaptive upregulation of some parameters of natural immunity and downregulation of some functions of specific immunity. Brief naturalistic stressors (such as exams) tended to suppress cellular immunity while preserving humoral immunity. Chronic stressors were associated with suppression of both cellular and humoral measures. Effects of event sequences varied according to the kind of event (trauma vs. loss). Subjective reports of stress generally did not associate with immune change. In some cases, physical vulnerability as a function of age or disease also increased vulnerability to immune change during stressors.Since the dawn of time, organisms have been subject to evolutionary pressure from the environment. The ability to respond to environmental threats or stressors such as predation or natural disaster enhanced survival and therefore reproductive capacity, and physiological responses that supported such responses could be selected for. In mammals, these responses include changes that increase the delivery of oxygen and glucose to the heart and the large skeletal muscles. The result is physiological support for adaptive behaviors such as "fight or flight." Immune responses to stressful situations may be part of these adaptive responses because, in addition to the risk inherent in the situation (e.g., a predator), fighting and fleeing carries the risk of injury and subsequent entry of infectious agents into the bloodstream or skin. Any wound in the skin is likely to contain pathogens that could multiply and cause infection (Williams & Leaper, 1998). Stress-induced changes in the immune system that could accelerate wound repair and help prevent infections from taking hold would therefore be adaptive and selected along with other physiological changes that increased evolutionary fitness.Modern humans rarely encounter many of the stimuli that commonly evoked fight-or-flight responses for their ancestors, such as predation or inclement weather without protection. However, human physiological response continues to reflect the demands of earlier environments. Threats that do not require a physical response (e.g., academic exams) may therefore have physical consequences, including changes in the immune system. Indeed, over the past 30 years, more than 300 studies have been done on stress and immunity in humans, and together they have shown that psychological challenges are capable of modifying various features of the immune response. In this article we attempt to consolidate empirical knowledge about psychological stress and the human immune system through meta-analysis. Both the construct of stress and the human immune system are complex, and both could consume bookCorrespondence concerning this article should be addressed to Suzanne C. Segerstrom, Department of Ps...

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“…With more sophisticated statistical analyses and more subjects, models predicting links between many variables (medical, demographic, social support, coping strategies, quality of life and at-risk behaviour) could be constructed and tested (e.g. Thomason et al, 1996). Lastly, longitudinal extension of this kind of research will provide more information about subjects' developing psychological states and adaptive mechanisms allowing us to identify critical phases in disease development for seropositive people and to study the possible impact of psycho-social variables on the physical state (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting health distress and at‐risk sexual behaviour in a group of Italian asymptomatic HIV‐infected people

Sica

Novara

Carosi

et al. 2001

Clin Psychology and Psychoth

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One hundred and one asymptomatic seropositive subjects (66% intravenous drug users, 22% heterosexuals and 12% homosexuals) were evaluated on demographic, medical and behavioral variables, using the Coping Orientations to the Problems Experienced and Medical Outcomes Study -HIV, together with questions on perceived social support. The homosexuals, those using coping strategies involving poor control of the situation, those with fewer years of seropositivity and the younger and less educated subjects more frequently adopted at-risk sexual behavior. Avoidance and problem-oriented strategies were predictive of health distress, whereas a positive attitude and the search for support appeared to offer some degree of protection against stress. No medical variable among those considered turned out to be linked to health distress. This study suggests that, in asymptomatic seropositive people, coping and social support are essential in managing the disease and of moderate importance in predicting at-risk sexual behaviour.

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Psychosocial co-factors in HIV illness: An empirically-based model

Cited by 17 publications

References 20 publications

Ethnicity, Serostatus, and Psychosocial Differences in Sexual Risk Behavior Among HIV-Seropositive and HIV-Seronegative Women

Ethnicity, Serostatus, and Psychosocial Differences in Sexual Risk Behavior Among HIV-Seropositive and HIV-Seronegative Women

Psychological Stress and the Human Immune System: A Meta-Analytic Study of 30 Years of Inquiry.

Predicting health distress and at‐risk sexual behaviour in a group of Italian asymptomatic HIV‐infected people

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