Could differences in implicit attitudes to sexual concurrency play a role in generalized HIV epidemics?

F1000Res. 2018 May 17:7:608. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.14951.2. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Background: Sexual partner concurrency has been implicated in the genesis of generalized HIV epidemic in South Africa. Most South Africans, however, disapprove of concurrency in surveys. These surveys test individuals' explicit attitudes which are susceptible to a number of important biases such as the social desirability bias. Assessment of implicit cognitions have been found to be better predictors of behaviour in socially sensitive domains. We hypothesized that South Africans may have implicit attitudes more tolerant of concurrency than lower concurrency prevalence populations. Methods: To test this hypothesis, we developed a concurrency-implicit association test (C-IAT) and compared the C-IATs of samples of South African and Belgian university students. Results: We found a large and statistically significant difference in the C-IAT between the South Africans (D600-score = -0.009, indicating absence of preference for concurrency or monogamy) and Belgians (D600-score = 0.783, indicating a strong preference for monogamy; t-test = 13.3; P < 0.0001). The effect size measure, Cohen's d, was found to be 0.88, which is considered a large effect size in this field. Conclusions: Our results are compatible with the thesis that differences in implicit attitudes to concurrency play a role in the genesis of generalised HIV epidemics.

Keywords: HIV; concurrency; implicit association; sexual networks.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Attitude
  • Belgium / epidemiology
  • Epidemics
  • Female
  • HIV Infections / epidemiology*
  • HIV Infections / etiology
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Prevalence
  • Sexual Behavior / psychology
  • Sexual Behavior / statistics & numerical data*
  • Sexual Partners / psychology*
  • South Africa / epidemiology
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

The author(s) declared that no grants were involved in supporting this work.