PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOSOCIAL ADJUSTMENT OF HIV-INFECTED GAY BISEXUAL MEN - DISEASE STAGE COMPARISONS/

The association between HIV disease progression (asymptomatic, symptom atic, AIDS) and mental health and psychosocial adjustment was examined among 144 men living in the New York City metropolitan area who had s ex with men. While mean levels of mental health reported by the men di d not differ by disease stage, mean levels of psychosocial adjustment did, with asymptomatic participants reporting significantly higher lev els of adjustment on average, than those with AIDS. The data indicated that gay and bisexual men with HN or AIDS were at risk of intrapsychi c distress throughout the disease course, but the likelihood of proble matic adjustment associated with their social interactions appeared to increase with the progression of the disease. The data also revealed that the men reported relatively high levels of psychological symptoma tology and low levels of psychosocial adjustment compared to normative general population samples, and lower levels of psychosocial adjustme nt compared with some samples of individuals having other acute or chr onic conditions. The implications of these findings for community psyc hologists are discussed. (C) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.