School Socioeconomic Composition and Adolescent Sexual Initiation in Malawi.
Numerous studies have documented the determinants of sexual behavior among adolescents in less-developed countries, yet relatively little is known about the influence of social contexts such as school and neighborhood. Using two waves of data from a school-based longitudinal survey conducted in Malawi from 2011-13, this study advances our understanding of the relationship between school-level socioeconomic contexts and adolescents' sexual activity. The results from two-level multinomial logistic regression models suggest that high socioeconomic composition of the student body in school decreases the odds of initiation of sexual activity, independent of other important features of schools and individual-level characteristics. This study also finds that the association between school socioeconomic composition and sexual activity is statistically significant among male adolescents but not female adolescents, suggesting that schools' socioeconomic contexts may be more relevant to male adolescents' initiation of sexual activity.
Doctoral student, Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 8128 William H. Sewell Social Sciences Building, 1180 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706. jinhokim@ssc.wisc.edu.
Jinho
J
Kim
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D003906:Developing Countries; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008295:Malawi; D008297:Male; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012574:Schools / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012737:Sex Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012931:Social Environment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires