Subjective HIV attribution theories, coping and psychological functioning among homosexual men with HIV

Facing a traumatic event, such as being diagnosed with HIV, the individual tries to find an explanation why the traumatic event happened. One way to answer that question is through attributions. The purpose of this study was to examine subjective attribution theories for HIV (internal/self-blame, external/blaming others, and fatalistic) and their association with coping styles and psychological functioning among 57 self-defined gay men who were HIV-positive. None of the respondents were diagnosed with AIDS. Although all men made attributions for their HIV infection, few had incorporated exclusively self-blame and external attributions, respectively. About one-third of the gay men attributed HIV to both self-blame and external factors. Self-blame attribution was associated with the avoidant coping style. Analyses yielded that both self-blame attribution and the avoidant coping style correlated with depressive mood and life dissatisfaction. External attribution theory displayed a positive relation to depressive mood. No particular HIV attribution theory was tied to good psychological functioning. The clinical implications of these results are discussed.