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Intentions to Care for Children Orphaned by HIV/AIDS: A Test of the Theory of Planned Behavior
Author(s) -
Townsend Loraine,
Dawes Andrew
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2007.00188.x
Subject(s) - theory of planned behavior , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , psychology , test (biology) , social psychology , population , sample (material) , developmental psychology , medicine , family medicine , control (management) , environmental health , biology , paleontology , chemistry , management , chromatography , economics
HIV/AIDS has added an unparalleled number of children to South Africa's orphan population. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) was used to investigate the decision‐making processes of potential substitute caregivers of children orphaned by AIDS. Existing foster and adoptive parents ( n = 175) completed a self‐report postal survey. Of the sample, 76.0% reported willingness to care for an HIV‐negative child and 62.2% an HIV‐positive child. Analyses of the theory's components reveal contradictory and disappointing results. While the theory is most useful in conceptualizing the factors that bear on fostering and adoption, the current study suggests that the TPB is limited in its ability to address the complexity of decisions that attend fostering and adoption of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.