ATTITUDES TOWARD AIDS-RELATED ISSUES - SOME PERSONAL AND SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC DETERMINANTS

In a sample of 2,655 young people between the ages of 15 to 30, three AIDS-related evaluative orientations were found: defensive, antinormat ive, and support for individual rights of AIDS victims. Cognitive atti tudinal components, operationalized according to the structural theory of attitude dynamics, were recognized as hedonic instrumentality and instrumentality for realization of conventional goals. A set of predic tors referring to personal, socioeconomic, and demographic characteris tics, and characteristics of AIDS-relevant experience, produced R = .4 32 for defensive, R = .222 for antinormative, and R = .306 for individ ual-rights orientations. Cognitive variables were predicted less succe ssfully. Socioeconomic and religious status and community size were th e strongest predictors. Canonical analysis of the relation between eva luative and cognitive variables revealed two significant coefficients. Support for individual rights and normative regulation of AIDS-relate d issues and antidefensive orientation were most likely in people who perceived AIDS as helping realization of conventional and hindering re alization of hedonic goals. Defensive and antinormative orientations a nd opposition to the rights of AIDS victims were most likely in people who perceived AIDS as being detrimental to realization of both hedoni c and conventional goals.