The Influence of Cross-Gender Conversational Networks on Responses to AIDS in Rural Malawi

Hans-Peter Kohler, University of Pennsylvania

In this paper, we examine the influence of husbands' (wives') social networks on their spouses responses to AIDS. Social networks in the high prevalence countries of sub-Saharan Africa are quite gendered: women talk with women, men with men. Communication between husband and wife, however, may bridge the gender gap. We use data from a longitudinal survey conducted in 1998 and 2001 for a sample of 1500 ever-married women and 1000 husbands, as well as a variety of sources of qualitative data that provide information on the content of conversations in social networks and between spouses. We utilize for our analyses several different methodologies, including (a) content analyses of qualitative data, (b) regression analyses of the influence of social interaction and spousal communication on AIDS risk perceptions and AIDS-related behaviors, and (c) fixed effects models to control for unobserved factors that are likely to determine social networks (where possible).