Research has indicated that stigmatizing AIDS attitudes are associated with negative attitudes toward gay men. Because injecting drug users (IDUs) are also stigmatized and injecting drug use is an important exposure category for HIV infection, the authors hypothesized that AIDS stigma might also be related to attitudes toward IDUs and that the proportionately higher level of HIV transmission related to injecting drug use in the African American community would produce different patterns of stigma between Blacks and Whites. National probability samples of U.S. adults were interviewed by telephone. Respondents with more negative attitudes toward IDUs held more stigmatizing AIDS attitudes. Among Blacks, such attitudes explained more variance than did attitudes toward gay men, a pattern opposite to that found among Whites. Moreover, knowing someone who injected illegal drugs was associated with less AIDS stigma for Blacks, but not for Whites. The results suggest that Blacks' and Whites' attitudes toward people with AIDS are informed by their different experiences of the AIDS epidemic.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Blendon, R. J. , Donelan, K., & Knox, R. A. (1992). Public opinion and AIDS: Lessons for the second decade. Journal of the American Medical Association, 267, 981-986.
2.
Blendon, R. J. , & Young, J. T. (1998). The public and the war on illicit drugs. Journal of the American Medical Association, 279, 827-832.
3.
Borchert, J. , & Rickabaugh, C. A. (1995). When illness is perceived as controllable: The effects of gender and mode of transmission on AIDS-related stigma. Sex Roles, 33, 657-668.
4.
Brown, L. S., Jr. (1993). Enrollment of drug abusers in HIV clinical trials: A public health imperative for communities of color. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 25, 45-52.
5.
Celentano, D. D. , Vlahov, D., Cohn, S., Shadle, V. M., Obasanjo, O., & Moore, R. D. (1998). Self-reported antiretroviral therapy in injection drug users. Journal of the American Medical Association, 280, 544-546.
6.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (1997). HIV/AIDS surveillance report, 9(1), 1-37.
7.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (1998). HIV/AIDS surveillance report, 9(2), 1-43.
8.
Crandall, C. S. (1991). Multiple stigma and AIDS: Illness stigma and attitudes toward homosexuals and IV drug users in AIDS-related stigmatization. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 1, 165-172.
9.
Department of Commerce . (1998). Falling through the net II: New data on the digital divide. Retrieved November 22, 1998 from the World Wide Web: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntia-home/net2/falling.html
10.
Des Jarlais, D. C. , Marmor, M., Paone, D., Titus, S., Shi, Q., Perlis, T., Jose, B., & Friedman, S. R. (1996). HIV incidence among injecting drug users in New York City syringe-exchange programmes. Lancet, 348, 989-991.
11.
Epstein, S. (1996). Impure science: AIDS, activism, and the politics of knowledge. Berkeley: University of California Press.
12.
Friedman, S. R. (1998). The political economy of drug-user scapegoating—and the philosophy and politics of resistance. Drugs: Education, Prevention, and Policy, 5, 15-32.
13.
Friedman, S. R. , Wainberg, M. A., & Drucker, E. (1998). Therapeutic ethics and communities at risk in the presence of potential mutation to resistant strains to HIV antiviral medications. AIDS, 12, 2089-2093.
14.
Fullilove, M. T. , & Fullilove, R. E. (1999). Stigma as an obstacle to AIDS action: The case of the African American community. American Behavioral Scientist, 42(7), 1117-1129.
15.
Gerbert, B. , Maguire, B. T., Bleecker, T., Coates, T. J., & McPhee, S. J. (1991). Primary care physicians and AIDS: Attitudinal and structural barriers to care. Journal of the American Medical Association, 266, 2837-2842.
16.
Gostin, L. O. (1998). The legal environment impeding access to sterile syringes and needles: The conflict between law enforcement and public health. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes and Human Retrovirology, 18, S60-S70.
17.
Henman, A. R. , Paone, D., Des Jarlais, D. C., Kochems, L. M., & Friedman, S. R. (1998). Injection drug users as social actors: A stigmatized community's participation in the syringe exchange programmes of New York City. AIDS Care, 10, 397-408.
18.
Herek, G. M. (1990). Illness, stigma, and AIDS. In P. T. Costa & G. R. VandenBos (Eds.), Psychological aspects of serious illness: Chronic conditions, fatal diseases, and clinical care (pp. 103-150). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
19.
Herek, G. M. (1994). Assessing attitudes toward lesbians and gay men: A review of empirical research with the ATLG scale. In B. Greene & G. M. Herek (Eds.), Lesbian and gay psychology: Theory, research, and clinical applications (pp. 206-228). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
20.
Herek, G. M. (1999). The social construction of attitudes: Functional consensus and divergence in the U.S. public's reactions to AIDS. In G. R. Maio & J. M. Olson (Eds.), Why we evaluate: Functions of attitudes. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
21.
Herek, G. M. , & Capitanio, J. P. (1993). Public reactions to AIDS in the United States: A second decade of stigma. American Journal of Public Health, 83, 574-577.
22.
Herek, G. M. , & Capitanio, J. P. (1994). Conspiracies, contagion, and compassion: Trust and public reactions to AIDS. AIDS Education and Prevention, 6, 365-375.
23.
Herek, G. M. , & Capitanio, J. P. (1997). AIDS stigma and contact with persons with AIDS: The effects of personal and vicarious contact. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 27, 1-36.
24.
Herek, G. M. , & Capitanio, J. P. (1998a, July). AIDS stigma and HIV-related beliefs in the United States: Results from a national telephone survey. Conference record of the 12th World AIDS Conference, Geneva, Switzerland.
25.
Herek, G. M. , & Capitanio, J. P. (1998b). Symbolic prejudice or fear of infection? A functional analysis of AIDS-related stigma among heterosexual adults. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 20, 230-241.
26.
Herek, G. M. , & Glunt, E. K. (1991). An epidemic of stigma: Public reactions to AIDS. American Psychologist, 43, 886-891.
27.
Herek, G. M. , Mitnick, L., Burris, S., Chesney, M., Devine, P., Fullilove, M. T., Fullilove, R. E., Gunther, H. C., Levi, J., Michaels, S., Novick, A., Pryor, J., Snyder, M., & Sweeney, T. (1998). AIDS and stigma: A conceptual framework and research agenda. AIDS & Public Policy Journal, 13, 36-47.
28.
Hunter, C. E. , & Ross, M. W. (1991). Determinants of health-care workers' attitudes toward people with AIDS. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 21, 947-956.
29.
Levin, I. P. , & Chapman, D. P. (1990). Risk-taking, frame of reference, and characterization of victim groups in AIDS treatment decisions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 26, 421-434.
30.
Lewis, L. S. , & Range, L. M. (1992). Do means of transmission, risk knowledge, and gender affect AIDS stigma and social interactions?Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 7, 211-216.
31.
Mann, J. , Tarantola, D.J.M., & Netter, T. W. (Eds.). (1992). AIDS in the world. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
32.
McCance-Katz, E. F. , Rainey, P. M., Jatlow, P., & Friedland, G. (1998). Methadone effects on zidovudine disposition. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes and Human Retrovirology, 18, 435-443.
33.
Meyers, K. , Metzger, D. S., Navaline, H., Woody, G. E., & McLellan, A. T. (1994). HIV vaccine trials: Will intravenous drug users enroll?American Journal of Public Health, 84, 761-766.
34.
Nakashima, A. K. , Jones, J. L., Burgess, D. A., & Ward, J. W. (1998, July). Predictors for not currently receiving protease inhibitor therapy: Results from a multisite interview project. Conference record of the 12th World AIDS Conference, Geneva, Switzerland.
35.
NIH Consensus Statement . (1997, February 11-13). Interventions to prevent HIV risk behaviors, 15, 1-41. Retrieved October 3, 1998 from the World Wide Web: http://odp.od.nih.gov/consensus/statements/cdc/104/104_stmt.html
36.
O'Connor, P. G. , Selwyn, P. A., & Schottenfeld, R. S. (1994). Medical care for injection-drug users with human immunodeficiency virus infection. New England Journal of Medicine, 331, 450-459.
37.
Price, V. , & Hsu, M. (1992). Public opinion about AIDS policies: The role of misinformation and attitudes toward homosexuals. Public Opinion Quarterly, 56, 29-52.
38.
Pryor, J. B. , Reeder, G. D., & Landau, S. (1999). A social-psychological analysis of HIV-related stigma: A two-factor theory. American Behavioral Scientist, 42(7), 1193-1211.
39.
Pryor, J. B. , Reeder, G. D., Vinacco, R., & Kott, T. L. (1989). The instrumental and symbolic functions of attitudes toward persons with AIDS. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 19, 377-404.
40.
Shapiro, M. F. , Hayward, R. A., Guillemot, D., & Jayle, D. (1992). Residents' experiences in, and attitudes toward, the care of persons with AIDS in Canada, France, and the United States. Journal of the American Medical Association, 268, 510-515.
41.
Sherer, R. (1998). Adherence and antiretroviral therapy in injection drug users. Journal of the American Medical Association, 280, 567-568.
42.
Stolberg, S. G. (1998, April 26). Clinton backs away from needle exchanges (for addicts and people with AIDS). New York Times, p. WK2.
43.
Stone, V. E. , Mauch, M. Y., Steger, K., Janas, S. F., & Craven, D. E. (1997). Race, gender, drug use, and participation in AIDS clinical trials. Lessons from a municipal hospital cohort. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 12, 150-157.
44.
Strathdee, S. A. , Palepu, A., Cornelisse, P.G.A., Yip, B., O'Shaughnessy, M. V., Montaner, J.S.G., Schechter, M. T., & Hogg, R. S. (1998). Barriers to use of free antiretroviral therapy in injection drug users. Journal of the American Medical Association, 280, 547-549.
45.
Weiner, B. (1993). AIDS from an attributional perspective. In J. B. Pryor & G. D. Reeder (Eds.), The social psychology of HIV infection (pp. 287-302). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
46.
Yedidia, M. J. , Berry, C. A., & Barr, J. K. (1996). Changes in physicians' attitudes toward AIDS during residency training: A longitudinal study of medical school graduates. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 37, 179-191.
47.
Yerly, S. , Schockmel, G., Bru, J. P., Hirchel, B., & Perrin, L. (1998, July). Frequency of transmission of drug-resistant variants in individuals with HIV-1 infection. Conference record of the 12th World AIDS Conference, Geneva, Switzerland.
