Other- versus self-focus and risky health behavior: the case of HIV/AIDS

Abstract

We examined the relationships of other-focus and self-focus with risky health behaviors among HIV+ individuals. Participants who were recruited by an AIDS advocacy organization completed anonymous questionnaires that included measures of other-focus (i.e. empathic concern and perspective-taking) and self-focus (i.e. personal distress and exaggerated internal control); direct measures of concern about the consequences of HIV/AIDS for the self, close others, and society; and a measure of willingness to engage in HIV/AIDS risk behaviors. As predicted, other-focus measures were generally associated with less, and self-focus measures with greater, willingness to engage in risky behavior. However, concern about the consequences of HIV/AIDS for close others was similar to self-focus and was associated with greater willingness to engage in risky behavior. These results are consistent with the notion that prevention efforts focusing on the consequences of HIV/AIDS – and perhaps other communicable diseases – might be more effective if they highlighted the consequences of the disease for society.

Keywords:

• Other-focus
• social responsibility
• self-focus
• HIV/AIDS
• risk behavior
• disease prevention

Acknowledgements

We are grateful for the help of the staff and clients of the Nebraska AIDS Project.

Funding

This work was supported by the NIMH [grant number 5R01MH 62061].

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.