title: [Vulnerability of women in common-law marriage to becoming infected with HIV/AIDS: a study of social representations].
abstract: This article discusses the social representations of women living in common-law marriage in terms of their vulnerability to becoming infected with HIV/AIDS. Data were obtained through the free association of words, and consisted of an excerpt of a study founded on the Social Representations Theory developed with HIV-negative women living in the state capital and cities in the interior of Bahia. The correspondence factor analysis showed significance for the variables: origin, education level and time spent in common-law marriage. Their acceptance of marital affairs emerged as a vulnerability factor for respondents with one to five years spent in common-law marriage, living in cities in the interior. Women from the capital, with 6-10 years spent in common-law marriage, reported monogamy as a form of prevention. Women with a longer common-law marriage who had completed only a primary education reported feeling invulnerable, which was the opposite of those with one to five years in common-law marriage with a secondary education. Results show there is a need for more interventions aiming to denaturalize the socio-cultural coercions that generate representations and make women in common-law marriages more vulnerable to AIDS.
authors.affiliation: Instituto Superior Ciências do Trabalho e da Empresa, Jequié, BA, Brasil. larissagbi@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Larissa Silva Abreu
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.forename: Mirian Santos
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Paiva
authors.forename: Jeane Freitas
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: de Oliveira
authors.forename: Sheva Maia
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: da Nóbrega
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008393:Marriage