28 January 2004
Why do gay men underestimate the risk of HIV infection?
Manygay men think they are less at risk of becoming infected with HIV than other gay men, and use this as a justification for having unprotected sex, Dr Ron Gold claims in the February issue of the International Journal of STD & AIDS. AIDS educators struggle to understand the phenomenon known as 'unrealistic optimism' (UO) in order to combat risky sexual behaviour. 'When making the decision to have unprotected anal intercourse, most gay men feel a need to justify their decision to themselves,' writes Dr Gold, of Deakin University’s School of Psychology in Victoria, Australia.
Motivation versus cognition
Professor Gold identifies two models of unrealistic optimism. The first, motivational account, has a purpose - to give comfort. The second,
cognitive account, 'proposes that unrealistic optimism serves
no particular function' and is merely the result of the subject's normal way of processing information and analysing situations. In this case, the person is attempting to assess risk and UO is therefore an error in the way shortcuts are employed in reaching their final risk analyses. The Australian study set out to find out what type of UO was responsible for the self-justification gay men use in making the decision to have unprotected sex.
Cognitive
accounts ‘can explain the findings’
The study sampled 122 men, ages ranging from 18 to 49 years in gay bars in Melbourne, Australia. All of the subjects had either tested HIV-negative or hadn’t ever been tested. The men were well-connected to the gay community and 54% had some form of secondary education. Dr Gold found that 77% of the men exhibited UO and, based on specific assessments designed to identify either motivational or cognitive accounts, 'individuals make a genuine attempt to assess their own and others' risk' and 'it seems that the cognitive account provides a better explanation than does the motivational account of at least that form of UO measured in this study.'
Counteracting
UO
If the conclusions of this study are universal, Gold emphasises that 'counteracting
UO means counteracting the cognitive errors that produce it.' He suggests trying to make gay men aware of how unrealistic optimism is a by-product of the way their analysing mind assesses risk. Although this may prove to be a goal difficult to achieve, the realisation of how they misinterpret their situation may help gay men make smarter, safer decisions about their sexual behaviour. Dr Gold stresses that 'this study is just one piece of a very complex jigsaw, and there's still a lot of time and work that is required before we get a final picture.'
[ends]
Explaining gay men’s unrealistic optimism about becoming infected with HIV [PDF 146k]
