The association between Magic Johnson's HIV serostatus disclosure and condom use in at-risk respondents

Journal of Sex Research, Spring, 1997 by Judith Tedlie Moskowitz, Diane Binson, Joseph A. Catania

Two waves of data from the National AIDS Behavioral Surveys, one collected prior to Magic Johnson's disclosure that he was HIV positive and one collected after, were used to address whether the disclosure was related to increases in condom use in a representative sample of respondents with a risk factor for HIV. Results indicated that Blacks, Hispanics, those with fewer than 12 years of education, and unmarried respondents were more likely to report being influenced by Magic Johnson's announcement. In addition, even when sociodemographic variables related to change in condom use were controlled, those respondents who reported being influenced by Magic Johnson's announcement were more likely to increase their condom use.

When Magic Johnson announced that he was HIV positive in November 1991, public health professionals hoped that his celebrity status would help increase public awareness of IRV and AIDS and promote the practice of safer sex behaviors. Although the announcement may have had an impact at some level, no researchers to date have looked at the change in HIV-prevention behavior in a representative sample of participants at risk for HIV (Kalichman, 1994). We addressed three important sets of questions that remain to be answered regarding the reported impact of Johnson's disclosure. First, what are the differences between the people who reported that they were influenced by Magic Johnson's announcement and those who were not? For example, consistent with the perspective that the influence of a role model is increased by similarity to the target person (Bandura, 1986), are younger Black males, who may view Magic Johnson as a role model, more likely to report being influenced than other ethnic or age groups? Are males more likely than females to be influenced by Johnson's announcement? Most researchers have focused on a single ethnic or age category, so the differences between strata could not be investigated (e.g., Boccher-Lattimore, Jemmott, & Jemmott, 1994; Sigelman, Miller, & Derenowski, 1993; Whalen, Henker, O'Neil, Hollingshead, Holman, & Moore, 1994; Zimet, Lazebnik, DiClemente, Anglin, Williams, & Ellick, 1993). Those researchers who have made comparisons have found that ethnicity, gender, education, and knowing someone with AIDS are associated with whether a person reports being influenced by Magic Johnson's announcement (Gleghorn, Kilbourn, Celentano, & Jemmott, 1993; Kalichman, 1994; Kalichman & Hunter, 1992; Kalichman, Russell, Hunter, & Sarwer, 1993; Langer, Zimmerman, Hendershot, & Singh, 1992).

Second, did Magic Johnson's disclosure contribute to change in behavior within individuals? With one exception, researchers have looked at mean levels of behavior before and after the announcement in independent groups, but have not assessed the same individuals at both points to allow intraindividual assessments of change (e.g., Boekeloo, Schiavo, Rabin, Jordan, & Matthews, 1993; Gleghorn et al., 1993; Kalichman & Hunter, 1992; Kalichman et al., 1993; Tesoriero, Sorin, Burrows, & LaChance-McCullough, 1995; Langer et al., 1992; Zimet et al., 1993). In one study in which researchers did examine individual change pre- to post-announcement, Boccher-Lattimore and colleagues measured Black adolescents' beliefs about condoms and intentions to use condoms, recruiting students from public junior high schools (Boccher-Lattimore et al., 1994). The students completed questionnaires five months prior to Magic Johnson's announcement and then again one month after the announcement. After the announcement, the students reported stronger intentions to use condoms in the next three months, increased self-efficacy to negotiate condom use, and increased perceived access to condoms. The results provided evidence that Black adolescents' attitudes and behavioral intentions were associated with Magic Johnson's announcement but did not address whether participants of different races, ethnicities, or ages were more or less likely to report being influenced in the practice of HIV-prevention behaviors such as condom use.

A third question that remains to be answered is whether the announcement was associated with an increase in safer sex behavior. In three studies researchers have measured change in reported behavior in convenience samples attending sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinics. Gleghorn et al. (1993) found that the proportion of patients using condoms at least some of the time increased significantly in those interviewed after the announcement. In another study of STD clinic patients, respondents surveyed after the announcement reported fewer one-night stands and fewer instances of three or more partners during the previous three months (Boekeloo et al., 1993) than respondents surveyed before Magic Johnson's announcement. Langer et al. (1992) found that approximately 70% of their sample reported a change in sexual behavior (e.g., using condoms, becoming monogamous or abstinent) in response to Magic Johnson's disclosure. Again, however, these researchers did not look at within-individual change in behavior.