AIDS and the Social Consequences (Regional Main Focus Survey, Autumn 1992)

Assessment of the dangers from AIDS. Attitude to the social
consequences of AIDS. Topics: 1. Oral survey: degree of urbanization of
place of residence; most important characteristics of an ideal
residential area (scale); preference for living in a large city or in
the country; composition of the immediate social surroundings and
characterization according to religiousness, interest in politics and
enterprise; description of the relation to the three most important
persons according to frequency of contact, type of relation, spatial
distance, agreement of one´s own views with these persons and
acquaintance of these persons with each other; intensity and type of
neighborhood contacts; general contentment with life; personal future
expectation; laisser-faire or strict social norm orientation; moral
orientation and importance of areas of life; withdrawal into the
private area or sociability; dealing with strangers in selected
situations in daily life; xenophobia (scale); general attitude to
handicapped and sick persons; feeling of threat in selected situations
and in public places; government or private responsibility for
protection from danger and risks; readiness to take risk; government or
private responsibility for the decisive things of life; smoker or
non-smoker; attempt to quit smoking; personal decision or medical
advice for the attempt to quit smoking; illnesses as fate or
controllable through precaution; contacting a doctor with selected
symptoms of illness; attitude to check-ups; regularity of participation
in medical check-ups; attitude to a comprehensive explanation with
serious illnesses; general assessment of the dangers in large cities in
comparison to rural areas; assessment of the danger of infection with
AIDS in large cities; expected jeopardy from crime in Germany to the
extent of American cities; probability of personally isolating oneself
in the future due to AIDS; judgement on the danger of infection of
selected illnesses; adequate extent to which informed about AIDS;
active or casual gathering of information on AIDS; conversation about
AIDS in one´s circle of friends; perceived change of conduct of friends
due to AIDS; knowledge about the danger of infection from HIV-infected
people without open symptoms of illness; AIDS as threat for everyone or
only for risk groups; expected increase in threat from AIDS; AIDS as
threat in personal family or circle of friends; comparison of threat to
health from AIDS in comparison to selected other illnesses (pair
comparison); state of knowledge about the possibilities of infection
from AIDS; dealing with AIDS and attributing blame to fringe groups
(scale); attitude to government compulsory measures to combat AIDS,
such as e.g. compulsory registration of the infected by name,
compulsory tests and isolation or identification of the AIDS-infected;
attitude to the AIDS-infected and feeling of threat from AIDS. 2. As a
written form to be filled out the respondent answered the following:
net household income; party preference; psychological
self-characterization; fatalism or personal responsibility and
self-confidence (scale); hesitation with assistance due to AIDS;
attitude to condom use and fidelity in a partnership (scale);
information on sexual conduct in the last 12 months and changing
partnerships or random acquaintances; attitude to condom use in future
relations with unknown partners; not using condoms only after an
AIDS-Test. 3. Demography: sex; school education; school education of
parents; employment; occupational position; full-time employment;
marital status; living together with a partner; religious denomination;
religiousness; size of household; children in the household;
composition of household; possession of a telephone; free-standing
residential building; type of residential building; characterization of
residential surroundings and type of residential building.