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from What do clinical studies say?
Researchers Examine Thought Suppression
In Relation To HIV-related Behaviors
August 7, 2006 - A study in Health Psychology (July 2006, pgs. 255-461) surveyed more than 700 gay males to determine what role thought suppression plays in those who engage in unsafe sexual activities.
The study was published by three Arizona State University psychology professors and was funded, in part, by the Centers for Disease Control.
The authors "investigated the relationship between suppressing thoughts about HIV risk and several outcomes related to HIV risk, including sexual risk behavior and HIV prevention service use, in men who have sex with men (MSM).
They hypothetized that "thought suppression might increase risk by leading MSM to 'escape' from sexual safety norms and engage in risky sex behaviors and, via a paradoxical process, increase future use of community prevention services."
The authors recruited gay, bisexual, and two-spirited (a Native American term indicating someone has both male and female characteristics) individuals from gay-oriented magazines, gay bars and retail establishments.
"Thought suppression" was measured by a Suppression/Distraction subscale of the Cognitive Escape Scale. Sexual risk behaviors were defined as any unprotected receptive or insertive anal intercourse with a casual male partner, a non-monogamous steady male partner, or a steady male partner of less than 6 months. "Unprotected sex with a monogamous steady partner of more than 6 months was not counted as sexual risk behavior," note the authors.
The researchers found that "suppressing HIV-related thoughts is associated with concurrent, but not future, increased sexual risk behavior. Conversely, thought suppression was associated with future increased use of HIV/AIDS-related community prevention services yet not concurrent use of these services. ... the present study provides support for the association between cognitive escape and risk behavior, as thought suppression may lead to slips in safety practices that might otherwise be maintained."
The authors suggest that these findings advance "the understanding of the behavioral effects of thought suppression in relation to HIV risk, providing a new and more pragmatic application of the ironic processing theory, and establishes a foundation for future research."
Additional Reading: Medical Issues.
Updated: 13 March 2008
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