Socio-cultural and economic antecedents of adolescent sexual decision-making and HIV-risk in rural Uganda

Bibliographic Data

ID19442659
AuthorsIngrid T Katz (0000-0002-3014-238X, Brigham and Women's Hospital, corresponding author), Michele L Ybarra (0000-0001-9127-7440, c Center for Innovative Public Health Research, Inc , San Clemente , CA , USA), Monique A Wyatt (0000-0002-3061-7218, Harvard Medical School), Julius Kiwanuka (0000-0001-9442-1719, Mbarara University of Science and Technology), Julius P Kiwanuka (Mbarara University of Science and Technology), David R Bangsberg (0000-0002-6352-8908, Harvard Medical School), N C Ware (0000-0002-5039-9991, Harvard University)
Year2013
Volume25
Issue2
Pages258-264
Publication date2013-02-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAIDS Care (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0954-0121 • E-ISSN: 1360-0451
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09540121.2012.701718
PMID22835224
PMCIDPMC3488357
OpenAlexW2078659092
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited29

With more than half of new infections occurring among youth, HIV/AIDS remains a major contributor to morbidity and mortality in Uganda. Semi-structured interviews were performed with 48 adolescents and 15 adult key informants in a rural Ugandan community to identify influences on adolescent sexual decision-making. Inductive data analytic methods revealed five thematic influences: (1) social pressure, (2) decline of the Senga (a familial figure who traditionally taught female adolescents about how to run a household), (3) cultural barriers to condom use, (4) knowledge of HIV transmission and modes of prevention, and (5) a moral injunction against sex before marriage. Influences were classified as HIV/AIDS risk and protective factors and organized to form an explanatory framework of adolescent sexual risk-taking. Risk factors pull youth toward risky behavior, while protective factors push them away. Predominance of risk over protective influences explains persistent sexual risk-taking by Ugandan youth. HIV prevention programs designed for Ugandan adolescents should take competing factors and sociocultural and economic influences into account

Condom · Developing country · Developmental psychology · Economic growth · Family medicine · Qualitative research · Social science · Sociocultural evolution · Sociology · Thematic analysis · Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health · HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions · Medicine · Psychology · Sex work and related issues