AIDS: consequences for families and fertility.

Lacking to date has been serious consideration of the impact of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) on the family and household. A range of potential problems are suggested; physical survival of family members; the demographic impact of AIDS (fertility rates marriage patterns youth and aged dependency orphanhood); economic functioning (income female labor force participation rates pauperization due to medical care costs); and social-psychological factors such as interpersonal interactions within the family and with the broader society. For basic research to be conducted on these issues there is a need for basic data collection on the family and household characteristics of infected persons and members of their households as they pass through each stage of the exposure-infection-disease-death chain. In assessing the consequences of any medical social economic or other event for families and households it is imperative to recognize the diversity in family structure and living arrangements among ethnic groups and social strata. In terms of a strategy for data collection information is needed on both an immediate and long-term continuous basis. Needed in the short-term is a cross-sectional view of households categorized by type. For control purposes any research sample must contain households whose members are seronegative. To enhance understanding of the dynamics in AIDS household members included in such studies should be followed and re-interviewed over time.