Prevalence and determinants of AIDS conspiracy and AIDS denialist beliefs and implications for risky sexual behaviour among young adults in Cape Town, South Africa
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2010
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University of Cape Town
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Abstract
This paper explores the prevalence of AIDS conspiracy beliefs (about the origin of AIDS) and AIDS denialist beliefs amongst
young adults in Cape Town. Since there is some evidence that AIDS conspiracy beliefs are associated with risky sex – in
particular, a greater likelihood of reporting sex without a condom (Bogart & Thorburn Bird 2003; Bogart & Thorburn 2005)
– the relationship between these beliefs and condom use is thoroughly investigated. It also explores the socio-economic
correlates of these beliefs and the potential effect of civil society mobilisation around HIV/AIDS on both conspiracy and
denial beliefs and on sexual behaviour. The data analysis was conducted on near-final data from the 2009 wave of the Cape Area Panel Study (CAPS). The dataset comprises 3 142 respondents between the ages of 19 and 35 from all races and income groups, but mostly Africans and Coloureds (42% and 49% of respondents respectively). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first analysis of its kind (apart from a preliminary analysis presented in October 2009, on which this paper is partly based) that is able to take into account both the race and class dimension of these beliefs and their implications for sexual behaviour (Nattrass 2009) and the first to investigate the relationship between the activities of the prominent South African AIDS activist organisation, Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), and conspiracy/denial beliefs as well as sexual risk-taking. The paper is also distinctive in separating out AIDS conspiracy beliefs (about the origin of AIDS) from AIDS denialist beliefs. This is because these beliefs do not necessarily fit logically together, and in any case appear to appeal to different social bases and ‘oppositional transcripts’.
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Nattrass, N., & Grebe, E. (2010). Prevalence and determinants of AIDS conspiracy and AIDS denialist beliefs and implications for risky sexual behaviour among young adults in Cape Town, South Africa. Centre for Social Science Research, University of Cape Town.