AIDS-related reasons for gay men's adoption of celibacy.

Since it was first recognized that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection could be sexually transmitted, celibacy has been advocated by some as the only unequivocally effective adaptation for avoiding the risk of infection. Others, however, have countered that few will be willing to be celibate and, further, that such behavior may have adverse psychosocial consequences. As part of a qualitative study of gay men's sexual decision-making in the context of the AIDS/HIV epidemic, we identified a subsample of respondents who had adopted celibacy for varying periods of time as an adaptation to the threat of AIDS/HIV infection. A content analysis of these men's interviews revealed 5 principal themes relating their reasons for choosing celibacy.