title: Perceiver and relationship effects on perceptions of HIV status: A naturalistic study in a high drug use sample.
abstract: This article examines the effect of target, perceiver, and relationship characteristics on the perceiver's assessment that the target may be HIV seropositive (HIV+). A sample of 267 persons was recruited from low income, high drug use neighborhoods. Respondents (perceivers) were asked to name people (targets) with whom they had a social, drug sharing, or sexual relationship. Perceivers described 1,640 such relationships. Perceivers were asked about the targets' age, gender, and race/ethnicity, whether the targets were good-looking, their level of trust with the target, and how long they had known them. Perceivers were then asked to evaluate the chances that the target mentioned was HIV+. Two regression models were estimated on the 1,640 relationships mentioned. Model 1 included variables reflecting only target characteristics as independent variables. Model 2 included variables reflecting target characteristics as well as variables reflecting perceivers and perceiver-target relationship characteristics. The results showed that targets that were female, younger, and good-looking were perceived as being less likely to be HIV+. However, when accounting for perceiver and relationship effects, some of the target characteristic effects disappeared.
authors.affiliation: Affiliated Systems Corporation, Houston, TX 77027-6022, USA.
authors.forename: Isaac D
authors.initials: ID
authors.lastname: Montoya
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Bell
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006679:HIV Seropositivity; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D011204:Poverty Areas; D012938:Social Perception; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders; D013781:Texas