1. THE IMPACT OF TEACHERS’ HIV STIGMA ON THE SCHOOL ADJUSTMENT OF CHILDREN AFFECTED BY HIV/AIDS: A MULTILEVEL STUDY IN RURAL CHINA Traci L. Weinstein 1, Xiaoming Li 1, Hongfei Du 1, Peilian Chi 1, Junfeng Zhao 2, Guoxiang Zhao 2, & Shan Qiao 1 1 Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA 2 Henan University, Kaifeng, Henan, China

2. BACKGROUND  Educational success has been found to be a main indicator of individual well-being for diverse student group  School adjustment is an essential component of school success, and is especially important for children who have parents affected by HIV  Little research to date has examined the impact of teacher attitudes on the school adjustment of these children  Thus, the purpose of the current study is to examine the hypothesis that teachers’ HIV stigma will be related to the school adjustment of children affected by HIV/AIDS in rural China

3. METHODS  Data came from a study of multi-systemic impacts on the psychosocial and educational needs of children affected by HIV conducted in rural China  The sample consisted of 247 children affected by HIV (119 girls) and 43 teachers  Of the 247 children:  121 children were living with HIV-positive parents  126 children had lost parents to the disease  The average age of children was 12.22 years (SD = 2.19)

4. METHODS  Children completed an assessment inventory of demographic information  Gender, age, and various school outcome measures  Teachers completed a 10-item HIV stigma questionnaire about their own attitudes towards children affected by HIV  Should these children quit school?  Should these children play with other children?  Do these children deserve sympathy?  Are these children unclean?

5. RESULTS  Multilevel analyses using hierarchical linear modeling  Findings indicate that teacher HIV stigma predicted children’s self-reported school adjustment  Higher teacher stigma was related to worse child school adjustment  Age and gender of children were not significant variables for this sample

6. IMPLICATIONS  The findings suggest that teacher attitudes are an important factor that impacts the school adjustment of children affected by HIV  Services targeting children affected by HIV should consider risk factors in the school context  Interventions for children affected by HIV/AIDS should specifically target the attitudes of teachers working with these students  This study holds implications for prevention and intervention efforts for children with HIV-affected parents

7. Q&A