Conclusion Based on Study of 824 Men in San Francisco : More Gays Who Test Positive for AIDS Now Celibate

Psychologists at UC San Francisco have found a “significant increase” in celibacy and a “significantly higher frequency of relationship disruption” among homosexual men who have tested positive for exposure to the AIDS virus, one of the researchers said Sunday.

In an unpublished study, psychologists who have been studying 824 gay and bisexual men in San Francisco since 1983, said that a positive test frequently results in sexual isolation, the ending of relationships and a “major increase” in anxiety and depression.

“People we interviewed told us that when they got their positive results they really didn’t want to be around people--they felt contaminated and just didn’t want to be touched,” said Dr. Steve Morin, assistant clinical professor of medicine at UCSF, in a telephone interview.

‘High Level of Celibacy’

He added: “That may account for both the high level of celibacy and the high level of relationship disruption.”

Further, Morin said, a positive test also leads to a decrease in behavior that transmits the virus. “We found that a very strong social responsibility motive emerged,” he said.

The test, which detects the presence of antibodies to the AIDS virus in the blood, indicates whether a person has been exposed to the virus. A positive test does not always mean that an individual will contract the deadly disease, but he or she is presumed to be both infected and infectious to others. Medical experts do not know how many infected persons will go on to develop full-blown AIDS.

AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, has afflicted more than 27,000 people in this country, of whom more than 15,000 have died. The disease destroys the body’s immune system, leaving it powerless against certain cancers and otherwise rare infections. The virus can also invade the central nervous system, causing severe neurological disorders. It is most commonly transmitted through anal and vaginal sexual intercourse, through the sharing of unsterilized hypodermic needles, and by mother to child during pregnancy.

Impact on Behavior

Those at highest risk have been homosexual and bisexual men, intravenous drug users and their sexual partners.

The San Francisco psychologists have been examining, among other things, whether the test results have made an impact on sexual behavior. Morin said that 139 of the 824 men in the study took the test. Of the 139 who were tested, 38 were positive and 70 were negative. The remaining men either declined to answer, or did not know their test results. The men were interviewed in November, 1985.

In addition to celibacy and termination of relationships among those who tested positive, “we also found a significant decrease in anal intercourse and an increased use of condoms,” Morin said.

Last March, federal health officials recommended that members of high risk groups voluntarily undergo the test. They believe that persons who test negative will be motivated to remain that way by practicing low-risk sexual behavior, while those with a positive result will take precautions against infecting others.

Fear of Discrimination

Gay rights groups and others oppose the recommendation, fearing that confidentiality of test results may be breached, resulting in discrimination against those who test positive. Further, they say, the psychological implications of a positive test can be devastating.

“The biggest point we make in our paper is the need to balance the public health goal of reducing transmission with an awareness of the psychological consequences to the person,” Morin said. “It must be an individual decision that weighs the possible psychological harm against the benefit of knowing.”

Morin said that he and his co-authors, Drs. Thomas J. Coates and Leon McKusick, also psychologists with the UCSF Department of Medicine, will interview their subjects again this month.

“We’re trying to find out now whether these changes have held up over a year,” Morin said. “We predict that their initial reaction will dissipate over time, but we do not predict an increase in risk activity. We expect they will adapt--not be celibate, but will go back and engage in safer forms of sexual expression.”

He added: “We also expect that some of the anxiety will dissipate over time, and some of the depression will lessen. We expect that the long-term adjustment will be better than the short-term adjustment.”