Social and psychological characteristics of HIV-infected women and gay men

In this paper, we examine social and psychological characteristics of 60 HIV+ women and gay men, matched on age and stage of HIV infection. A discriminant function analysis was performed using measures of life adversity, psychological distress, an psychosocial resources. The best combination of predictors for distinguishing between HIV+ women and gay men was comprised of satisfaction with emotional support, network size, use of avoidant coping, Hamilton depression, and loneliness scores [Chi(2)(7)=14.8, p<.05]. Women reported more satisfaction with emotional support, although gay men had larger social networks. Gay men used more avoidant coping and had higher loneliness scores as compared to women, although women reported more depressive symptoms. Utilizing this set of psychosocial variables, we correctly classified 73% of the HIV+ women and 67% of the HIV+ men. These findings suggest the importance of considering subgroup differences in the design of counseling programs for HIV+ individuals.