Cattle for Wives and Extramarital Trysts for Husbands? Lobola, Men, and HIV/STD Risk Behavior in Southern Africa

Bibliographic Data

ID2168338
AuthorsG Anita Heeren (0000-0001-7376-1132), John B Jemmott (0000-0003-2831-8240), Joanne C Tyler, Sonwabo Tshabe, Zolani Ngwane
Year2011
Volume21
Issue1
Pages73-81
Publication date2011-01-31
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1091-1359 • E-ISSN: 1540-3556
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10911359.2011.534903
PMID21423571
PMCIDPMC3060788
OpenAlexW2061874481
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited13

Lobola is in many Southern African countries a tradition, which is expected to be adhered by anyone who is part or want to be part of the community. It is about paying respect to the elders, the family and the community. It is a significant element of marriage among many tribes and there are strict rules to adhere. In order to determine how much the actual fact of payment of lobola would influence the behavior of husbands and wives, we conducted several focus group discussion with men, women, mixed groups and couples. We analyzed the data collected during these sessions and compared these with the literature. Many participants see lobola as part of their African culture, although they wished that they would not actually have to pay lobola. We could not determine a difference in the husband's behavior, whether they had paid lobola or not and having extramarital affairs

Demographic economics · Economics · Focus group · Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV · Order (exchange · Payment · Political science · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Spouse · HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk · Medicine · Psychology · Vaccine Coverage and Hesitancy · Viral Infections and Outbreaks Research · Demography · Gender Studies · Social Psychology