ABSTRACT
The object of a good deal of social science research on AIDS is to assess the way in which individuals handle the risk of being infected during sexual relationships. What motivates two partners to enter into a relationship? What factors come into play to favour or prevent them from addressing the possible risk of HIV? How do partners behave when they ultimately take action and have sexual intercourse? What attitudes lead partners to use or stop using means of protection that have been proven medically reliable? What circumstances lead partners to believe that they do not constitute a threat to each other? These questions will be addressed in this text using as a base two qualitative studies, one done in France and Switzerland and one in Belgium. Our objective is theoretical, that is to suggest an outline for modelling some of the key factors that must be considered to understand how partners handle the risk of AIDS in their sexual relationships.
