The relationship between household health shocks and adolescent sexual debut in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Although household illness and death are believed to be risk factors for unsafe sexual behaviours among adolescents in developing countries—particularly girls—few studies document the relationship. Many existing studies are anecdotal in nature. METHODS: Using a cross-sectional population-based survey of 4,000 14-24-year-olds in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, a multivariate hazard model is utilized to assess the effects of household illness and death in the two years preceding the survey on adolescent sexual debut. Standard errors are corrected for the two-stage sampling design, and sampling weights are applied. RESULTS: After controlling for the effects of various individual, household-, and community-level factors, adolescents residing in households that experienced a health shock in the two years before the survey were more likely to have sexually debuted than same-age adolescents in households that had not experienced such recent shocks. Adolescents in households that experienced a recent death were 20 percent more likely to have debuted (p
Citation
Hallman, K. The relationship between household health shocks and adolescent sexual debut in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. (2006)