Why are they worried? Concern about AIDS in rural Malawi

Smith, Kirsten P.

doi:10.4054/demres.2003.s1.9

Cited by 18 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Among a host of individual- and contextual-level factors, suspected spousal infidelity is the strongest predictor of worry about HIV in Malawi (Smith 2003). Other research suggests that men and women use different heuristics to assess their likelihood of infection: men primarily consider their own sexual behavior, whereas women primarily consider the (known and suspected) behavior of their current partners (Anglewicz and Kohler 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ideals as Anchors for Relationship Experiences

Frye

Trinitapoli

2015

Am Sociol Rev

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Research on young-adult sexuality in sub-Saharan Africa typically conceptualizes sex as an individual-level risk behavior. We introduce a new approach that connects the conditions surrounding the initiation of sex with subsequent relationship well-being, examines relationships as sequences of interdependent events, and indexes relationship experiences to individually held ideals. New card-sort data from southern Malawi capture young women’s relationship experiences and their ideals in a sequential framework. Using optimal matching, we measure the distance between ideal and experienced relationship sequences to (1) assess the associations between ideological congruence and perceived relationship well-being, (2) compare this ideal-based approach to other experience-based alternatives, and (3) identify individual- and couple-level correlates of congruence between ideals and experiences in the romantic realm. We show that congruence between ideals and experiences conveys relationship well-being along four dimensions: expressions of love and support, robust communication habits, perceived biological safety, and perceived relationship stability. We further show that congruence is patterned by socioeconomic status and supported by shared ideals within romantic dyads. We argue that conceiving of ideals as anchors for how sexual experiences are manifest advances current understandings of romantic relationships, and we suggest that this approach has applications for other domains of life.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ideals as Anchors for Relationship Experiences

Frye

Trinitapoli

2015

Am Sociol Rev

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“…Whether correct or incorrect, the subjective perceptions of one's own HIV/ AIDS risk and of one's sexual partner's risk have been shown to be important correlates of whether an individual adopts risk-reduction strategies (Cerwonka, Isbell, and Hansen 2000;Estrin 1999;UNAIDS 1999;Weinstein and Nicolich 1993). The process through which these risk perceptions are formed, however, is only poorly understood (e.g., Smith 2003). 1 In this article, we therefore investigate the determinants of subjective HIV/AIDS risk assessments, focusing in particular on the hypothesis that individuals assess their risk of infection through interactions with others in their social networks.…”

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confidence: 99%

Childhood predictors of late‐life diabetes: The case of Mexico

Kohler

Soldo

2005

Social Biology

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“…A notable exception to this is Smith's (2003, Smith andWatkins 2005) substitution of 'worry' about contracting HIV/ AIDS in place of 'risk' because, 'worry is universally experienced and more emotionally based than perceived risk, respondents may have less difficultly understanding the concept of worry and articulating their levels of worry than describing their perceived risk' (Smith 2003, p. 283). In addition, asking questions concerning what, or whom, respondents worry about can include concerns about sexual partners' behaviour, permitting examination of sexual dyads and consideration of social norms, instead of only individuals' self-assessment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

HIV/AIDS risk and worry in Northern Kenya

Roth

Ngugi

Fujita

2009

Health, Risk & Society

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Data from a 2003 survey of sexual behaviour (n ¼ 400) conducted in the Ariaal community of Karare, Marsabit District, northern Kenya, were used to delineate patterns of risk and worry about contracting HIV/AIDS. Despite widespread reporting of high-risk sexual behaviours (including multiple partners, concurrency, sexual mixing and not using condoms) by survey participants, logistic regression analysis found only one statistically significant positive association between these behaviours and self-assessment of being at high risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. In contrast, log-linear analysis of worry patterns found highly significant relationships between self-assessment of high risk of HIV/AIDS and worry about one's partner's sexual behaviour. These findings indicate that in relation to contracting HIV/AIDS currently Ariaal are more concerned about the sexual behaviour of others, rather than their own behaviour. More generally, results point to the potential for combining concepts of worry with risk assessment in HIV/AIDS research to generate insights into how both concepts are linked to individual, dyadic and population-level factors within specific cultural settings.

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Why are they worried? Concern about AIDS in rural Malawi

Cited by 18 publications

References 43 publications

Ideals as Anchors for Relationship Experiences

Ideals as Anchors for Relationship Experiences

Childhood predictors of late‐life diabetes: The case of Mexico

HIV/AIDS risk and worry in Northern Kenya

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