A B S T R A C TA longitudinal analysis of the psychological well-being of 81 young children ages 6-11 living with their HIV symptomatic or AIDS diagnosed mothers was conducted. Specifically, the relationship among mothers' disease severity, maternal disclosure of HIV, and children's psychological well-being was investigated. The children were assessed over three time points (i.e. baseline assessment, 6-month and 1-year follow-up). Two categories of maternal disclosure (disclosed before baseline, no disclosure at any of the three time points over 1-year), and two categories of disease severity (< 500 T-cell count across all assessments, 500+) were created. A series of 2 ϫ 2 ϫ 3 repeated measures MANOVAs was used to assess the effects of the maternal disclosure and disease severity across time on children's psychological well-being. Results showed significant within-group time effects for child depression, suggesting a decrease in depression over time. Interaction results of time and maternal disclosure revealed only a few significant changes over time. However, significant decreases over time for child depression were noted among children whose mothers' CD4 cell counts remained at 500+ across the three assessment periods. Implications for future research and for psychosocial needs of these families are discussed.
K E Y W O R D SHIV, longitudinal analysis, maternal disclosure, psychological well-being