Student Number : 9904331V - MA research report - School of Social Sciences - Faculty of Humanities / The sexual behavioural choices made by adolescents is a salient issue in South Africa. The practice of risky sexual behaviour puts one at risk of unwanted pregnancy, STI and HIV infection. These behaviours affect one not only physically but mentally as well. Adolescence is a “turbulent” time in ones life and risky sexual behaviour makes this period all the more difficult and could result in disastrous consequences. This is due to the fact that sexual health and sexual practices of adolescents has implications for morbidity and mortality rates in South Africa. In order to address the issue of risky sexual behavioural choices made by adolescents, this study has examined the effect of family characteristics on adolescent sexual behavioural choices. The 1998 South African Demographic and Health Survey data was used. The data set was a nationally representative data set with a probability sample of 12000 women aged 15-49 taking part in it. Analysis for this study was based on 2373 female adolescent respondents aged 15-19. The association between individual and family background characteristics and risky sexual behavioural choices was examined. Crucial variables were extracted and fitted to logistic regression models. The study found that 47% of the female adolescents were sexually active. Of these, only 15% used a condom at the last sexual encounter despite the fact that 78% had a high degree of knowledge concerning HIV and condom use. South African adolescents are thus engaging in risky sexual behaviour. The family household structures in which adolescents reside was found to be associated with risky sexual behavioural choices. Sexual activity is strongly associated with socioeconomic status of the family. Condom use and HIV & contraceptive (condom) knowledge was found to be less strongly associated with the socio-economic (financial) status of the family but rather the social processes and relationships within the family are speculated to have a greater effect. The need for a more in-depth analysis with reference to family processes and relationships is recommended in order to properly understand the familial effect on sexual behavioural choices. The findings from this study have implications for reproductive health and reproductive rights policies. Appropriate national strategies are needed to reduce risky sexual practices and thus ensure lower morbidity and mortality among South African youth.

The goals of sexual health programming in youth populations frequently focus on reducing sexual risk taking, as these behaviours can lead to sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancies. A focus on enhancing distal factors such as social support is starting to be considered of greater importance in adolescent sexual health programming. The purpose of this thesis was to examine the relationship between social support and sexual risk taking behaviours in school age youth in Northern Nova Scotia in 2000. Social support was found to be a factor in some sexual risk taking behaviours, with different relationships seen for males and females. Depression and self-esteem also influence the relationship between social support and some sexual risk taking behaviours. Health programming with a wholistic approach, including a focus the role of support and psycho-social variables, may be a positive way to reduce sexual risk taking behaviours and support healthy adolescent sexuality.

Sexual development and interest in sex is a normal part of adolescent development, but the negative outcomes of unprotected intercourse can result in life changing consequences such as an unplanned pregnancy or a sexually transmitted infection. Although the prevalence of these consequences have improvement over the past decade, the United States still has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates and highest prevalence of youth sexually transmitted infection among developed countries. In this report, the determinants that lead adolescents to engage in sex and fail to use contraceptives are reviewed. With knowledge on what factors contribute to adolescent sexual risk taking behaviors, counseling strategies can be implemented to prevent and intervene, and the school counselor is in a prime setting for delivery. The prevention strategies that are covered in this review are grouped into five categories. They are education, skill building, enhancing student development, involving parents and families, and implementing programs. / text

Tidigare forskning kring sexuellt riskbeteende i Sverige har hitintills främst fokuserat på attityder till kondom och kondomanvändning. I dagsläget saknas forskning kring sambandet mellan sexuellt riskbeteende och personlighet i Sverige. I denna studie genomfördes en enkätundersökning bland 59 unga vuxna för att undersöka samband mellan sexuellt riskbeteende och personlighet. Några signifikanta samband hittades; bland annat mellan social förmåga och impulsiva sexuella beteenden. När enbart sexuellt riskbeteende studerades så fanns signifikanta medelvärdesskillnader mellan könen. Det hittades även att självförtroende är en viktig komponent för generellt sexuellt riskbeteende bland män och kvinnor. / Earlier research on sexual risk-taking in Sweden has primarily concerned attitudes towards condom and condom use. In the current situation, research on the relationship between sexual risk-taking and personality in Sweden is still missing. A survey was conducted among 59 young adults to investigate relationship between sexual risk-taking and personality. Some significant relationships were found; for instance between social ability and impulsive sexual behaviors. When only sexual risk-taking was considered, there were significant mean differences between the genders. Also, self-confidence was found to be an important component for general sexual risk-taking among men and women.

The overall aim was to explore the experiences of sexual risk taking among Chlamydia Trachomatis positive (CT+), HIV positive (HIV+), and HIV tested young women and men. The specific aims were to explore, from a gender perspective, the course of events, the norms, considerations and emotions involved in sexual risk taking in CT+, explore the perception of sexual risk taking in HIV+ youth, and their understanding of why they caught HIV and look at how the Law of Communicable Diseases Act impacts their sexuality. Moreover, to investigate why young adults test for HIV, how they construct the HIV risk, and what implications testing has for them. 42 informants between 17-24 years of age were recruited from a youth clinic in Umeå and from three infection clinics for HIV patients in Sweden. In depth interviews and focus group interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed according to a Grounded Theory approach. The finding revealed that behind sexual risk taking, there was a drive to go steady, where lust and trust guided if sex would take place. In one-night stands women were expected to be less forward compared with men. We found an uneven responsibility concerning condom use where men expected women to be "condom promoters". By catching CT, women experienced guilt, while men felt content through knowing "the source of contamination". Among the HIV+ youth, socio-cultural factors such as; lack of adult supervision, naivité, love, alcohol, drugs, the macho ideal and cultures of silence blinded the informants to the risks and made them vulnerable. By grouping narratives according to degree of consensus in sexual encounters, this demonstrated that sexual risks happened in a context of gendered power relations where the informants had varied agency. The Law of Communicable Diseases Act implied both support and burden for these HIV+ youth. A lot of responsibility was put on them and to be able to handle the infromation duty they tried to switch off lust, switch off the disease, or balance lust and obedience. Among the HIV tested youth, HIV was seen a distant threat. Many had event-driven reasons for testing for HIV; multiple partners being one. Risk zones, like bars were perceived to be a milieu that often was expected to include one-night stands. Responsibility for testing was a gendered issue; "natural" for women, while men rather escaped from responsibility and had a testing resistance. Receiving a "green card" confirmed healthiness and provided relief, and made the informants felt "clean". They could restart with new ambitious, including reconsidering risk. The findings can be used in public health and in health care sectors that work with young people. We present suggestions on how to decrease the spread of STIs: To implement how men could play an equal part in sexual and reproductive health. Promote general CT screening for men. Liberal HIV testing among both young women and men. Promote safer sex behaviour from the uninfected youth, especially focusing on men??. Consider the role of gender and social background in the context of risky behaviours. Give lots of positive rewards concerning HIV disclosure to diminish the risk for HIV transmission.

The aim of this study was from the beginning to examine why a woman who has made an abortion comes back for another one. Why does the risk taking continue, despite the fact that abortion is perceived as emotionally hard? How can this be understood?This study consists of a literature review and semi-structured interviews. I wanted to interview women who had made a decision to have a repeated abortion, but it was difficult to get that kind of interviews. I then decided to interview the staff who meets women searching for an abortion to have their attitudes and experiences of women coming back for another abortion. It is a qualitative research. I have tried to understand the phenomena "repeated abortion" by using theories based in social constructionism and gender perspectives. My conclusion is that the repeated abortion may not be a problem for the woman but for the care in which the abortion is performed.

Background: Adolescents view on sexual relationships is more liberal now than ever before and sexual transmitted diseases has increased rapidly the past years. Objective: The aim of the study was to explore how adolescents perceive their knowledge about safe sex and to which extent it could influence their sexual risk-taking. Method: Qualitative content analysis based on 11 interviews with nine girls and two boys. Result: Five categories emerged which was "enough knowledge", "need for more knowledge", "there is always more to learn", "the adolescent´s needs for safer sex" and "knowledge leads to safe sex". The categories lead to one main team which was "knowledge is important but attitudes determines". Conclusion : The results show that adolescence perceives their knowledge as good enough to practice safe sex. However the adolescents sometimes feel that the sexual education in school is insufficient in many areas, as a result, they search for knowledge on their own. Our results show that it's not adolescent´s knowledge but their attitudes that is the decisive factor regarding sexual behavior. According to the theory of planned behavior it´s possible to change this behavior by influencing norms, attitudes and self-efficacy. A reformed sexual education that focus on changing attitudes by empowering the adolescents to increased self-efficacy can make it possible to influence the intention to have safer sex and the actual behavior in sexual relationships. / Bakgrund: Ungdomars syn på sexuella relationer har blivit alltmer liberala de senaste åren vilket har lett till kraftig ökning av sexuellt överförbara sjukdomar. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att belysa hur ungdomar uppfattar sin kunskap om säkert sex och vilken betydelse den kan ha för sexuellt risktagande. Metod: Kvalitativ innehållsanalys baserad på 11 intervjuer med nio tjejer och två killar. Resultat: Fem kategorier uppstod vilka var "tillräckligt med kunskap", "behov av mer kunskap", "det finns alltid mer att lära", "ungdomars behov för säkrare sex" och "kunskap ger säkert sex". Kategorierna ledde till ett huvudtema, "kunskap har betydelse med attityder avgör". Konklusion: Resultatet visar att ungdomarna upplever att deras kunskap är tillräckligt bra för att ha säkra sexuella relationer, det framkommer dock att ungdomarna ibland upplever att sexualundervisningen brister på många områden, vilket har lett till att de söker efter information på eget håll. Vårt resultat visar att det inte är kunskapen som avgör om ungdomarna har säkert sex eller inte, utan det är attityderna såsom "det händer inte mig", som är avgörande för ungdomarnas sexuella beteende. Enligt Theory of planned Behavior är det möjligt att uppnå ett förändrat beteende genom påverkan på normer, attityder och självkontroll. En reviderad sexualundervisning som fokuserar på att förändra attityder genom att stärka ungdomarna till ökad självkontroll, kan göra det möjligt att påverka intentionen till säkert sex och beteendet i sexuella relationer.

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This study extends the research of Rodgers (1999) on the relationship between parenting processes and adolescent sexual risk-taking. Parenting behaviors considering were parental monitoring, parent-adolescent communication, and parenting styles. Sexual risk-taking was determined by assessing number of lifetime sexual partners as well as use of condoms during last sexual intercourse. A sample (n=286) of 9th-12th grade males and females who reporting having had sexual intercourse were separated into two groups-those engaging in low sexual risk-taking or high sexual risk-taking. Logistic regression analysis revealed gender differences in the relationship between parents' behaviors and adolescent sexual risk-taking. For females, parenting monitoring of the adolescent's after-school whereabouts was related to a decrease in the odds that a daughter would take sexual risks. For males, parental monitoring of whom the adolescent male goes out with was related to a decrease in the odds of a son taking sexual risks. Several significant interaction effects were also found. / Master of Science