Risky sexual behaviour among unmarried young people in Cameroon: another look at family environment.
Most studies of the association between family structure and risky sexual behaviour among adolescents and young adults have employed a risk perspective which assumes that, compared with other types, two-parent families are protective. Drawing from a positive-oriented approach in this study, it is hypothesized that within each family type some influential factors may mitigate such anticipated deleterious effects of non-intact families and decrease sexual risk-taking. The paper examines specifically the effects of risk and protective factors with an emphasis on family processes associated with resilience, using data from a pooled sample of 1025 females and males aged 12-24 years from Bandjoun (West Cameroon). Findings show that the quality of parent/guardian-youth relationships significantly decreases the odds of risky sexual behaviour by 36%, 65% and 50% in neither-, one- and two-parent families, respectively. For two-parent families only, parental control acts as a significant protective factor; it decreased by 41% the odds of risky sexual behaviour. Programmatically, protective family factors such as parent/guardian-youth interactions need to be promoted to improve the efficiency of reproductive health and HIV interventions in sub-Saharan Africa.
Department of Demography, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Zacharie Tsala
ZT
Dimbuene
Barthelemy Kuate
BK
Defo
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002163:Cameroon / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012847:Single Person / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D020954:Single-Parent Family / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D047568:Unsafe Sex / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult