Out Here By Ourselves: The Stories of Young People Whose Mothers Have AIDS

Out Here By Ourselves: The Stories of Young People Whose Mothers Have AIDS

Garland Publishing/Taylor & Francis, 19 Union Square West, New York, NY 10003. 179p., bibliog., index. (Children of Poverty). ISBN 0-8153-3621-7. $50.00.
by Diane Duggan. 2000.

At the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the U.S., the gay male was the most devastated group to be infected with the HIV virus. By 1997, women accounted for 20% of new AIDS cases, compared to 6% in 1982. More significantly, however, is that deaths from AIDS in 1996 decreased by 15% for men and increased by 3% for women. Many of these women are single mothers who sometimes transmit the infection to their unborn babies. Fortunately the majority of children of women with AIDS are not infected by HIV. They are, however, are profoundly affected by the illness and in many cases the death of their mothers.

This book reports on a study of "the impact of a mother's illness or death from AIDS on their adolescent and young adult children." The study wanted answers to two research questions: "What is the experience of adolescents and young adults who have a family member with AIDS?" and "What impact does this experience have on their feelings about themselves and on their behavior?" The first three chapters provide information on the purpose of the study, background for the study, and how the study was conducted. The young people's stories are presented in the fourth chapter and the fifth chapter discusses some of the common themes, such as "We're Out Here by Ourselves," "My Mother Had a Problem," "Me and My Mother Didn't Get Along," and "Something to Live for." The last chapter is a discussion of the results with implications.

This is a well-written book based on the author's dissertation. Little has been written on this topic, so this should encourage others to investigate more on the impact of AIDS on this group of children. However, it should be noted, that it was discovered that many of the children did not want to talk about this topic and did not want to participate in any type of healing process such as creating an AIDS quilt panel. This is a recommended book for all academic libraries.

Keywords: Children of AIDS Patients; Interviews Family Relationships; Mothers)
010710
BK011077

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