The Comparison of the Self - definition of healthy and HIV/AIDS infected monolingual and bilingual people

This research was conducted to compare the self – definition of the healthy and HIV/AIDS infected bilingual (speaking Farsi and Kurdish) and monolingual (speaking just Farsi) people. Subjects of the study were 60 monolingual (Healthy and Patient) and 60 bilingual (Healthy and Patient) people who were selected through the available sampling method; the variables including age, gender and were controlled by the analysis of covariance. Subjects of the study completed the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), the Beck depression and Anxiety Inventory (BDAI), the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale- Revised (WAIS-R) and Twenty Statements Test (TST). The results revealed that in general self – definition was quantitatively more in healthy group and those who were bilingual; the self – definition in healthy group was independent in terms of theme, and in bilingual group was dependent. Moreover, trauma- themed self- definition was more in bilingual than monolingual patients. This preference was discussed based on the personality characteristic and growth of the cognitive processes in healthy and monolingual people. Also different self- definition could be developed due to better memory in healthy and bilingual people.