Student Number: 0516329A -
MSc research report -
School of Public Health -
Faculty of Medicine / In the face of diminishing traditional controls on adolescent sexual behaviour, parents are
becoming the focal point of guidance on sexual issues. The main objective of the study is to
establish if residing with one’s parents has any effect on one’s sexual behaviour among
adolescents in the Kassena-Nankana District of Northern Ghana. A sample of 7056
adolescents aged between 10 and 24 years were interviewed between April and October 2003
while the 2004 household socio-economic data was used to generate a household wealth
index. Females are less likely to have had sex (AOR 0.75; CI: 0.63; 0.88) and also less likely
to initiate sex before age 16 (AOR 0.30; CI: 0.21; 0.43) compared to males. Living with one’s
father only is associated with a 36% decrease in the likelihood of having had sex among males
(AOR 0.64; CI: 0.42; 0.96) compared to living with both parents. Females living with neither
parent were 76% more likely to have had sex than those living with both parents (AOR 1.76;
CI: 1.21; 2.55). Discussion of sexual matters with parents increased the likelihood of initiating
sex. Family structure is an important predictor of sexual behaviour among adolescents and
therefore should be considered when designing and implementing interventions. Longitudinal
and qualitative studies are recommended
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/2064 |
| Date | 21 February 2007 |
| Creators | Muindi, Kanyiva |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 441660 bytes, application/pdf, application/pdf |
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