The social support networks of gay men with AIDS

Twenty-five gay men with AIDS were interviewed about their social support networks and completed a measure of psychological well-being. The networks were primarily composed of gay, male friends and usually contained one other person with AIDS (PWA). Network characteristics most highly correlated with psychological well-being included the degree to which the PWA felt he reciprocated support to network members, amount of emotional and informational support received, number of close relationships, and percentage of friends—versus relatives —in his network. Friends and fellow PWAs tended to be the greatest sources of fun and relaxation. Fellow PWAs offered the greatest opportunity for reciprocity and were highly rated as sources of informational support. In contrast, professional helpers provided high informational support but little opportunity to reciprocate. All categories of network members were rated as providing fairly high levels of emotional support. The findings demonstrate the value of social network assessment in identifying PWAs at risk for psychological problems.